The New York Rangers haven’t played well for three games. After a stellar 5-0-1 start, the Rangers have strung together three bad performances in a row and now have a 6-2-1 record and have fallen to fourth place in the Metropolitan Division following their most recent defeat against the Washington Capitals.
This string of bad performances started with a 3-1 loss against the Florida Panthers on Madison Square Garden ice. Besides a first period goal from Alexis Lafreniere, the Rangers were stymied in periods two and three by a smarter and better skating Panthers team that wouldn’t let them have an inch.
The next game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Rangers prevailed but the game shouldn’t have been that close because Laviolette’s team is much better than the Ducks. Artemi Panarin came into that game with five more points than the top point scorer on the Ducks, yet Anaheim was still able to keep the Rangers from running away with that one as the final score read 2-1 Rangers.
Then, if things haven’t come to a head after a 5-3 loss to the Capitals, they’re moving towards that. The Rangers gave up three goals in the first period for the first time this season and looked listless defensively from the first to the third period.
Now, they have to flush that result and get ready to face an up-and-coming 5-4-0 Ottawa Senators team who just defeated the St. Louis Blues by a score of 8-1 in their most recent game.
What Threats do the Senators Have?
Ottawa’s first line center Tim Stutzle scored four points (two goals and two assists) and captain Brady Tkachuk had two goals in the Senators’ most recent game. They will be two players that the Rangers will have trouble dealing with on Friday since they had so much trouble against a Washington Capitals team that ranks 15th in the National Hockey League in goals scored as a team this season with 31.
The Sens have four forwards who have scored more than a point-per-game this season. They are Stutzle, Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Claude Giroux. Stutzle leads the team with 14 points, Tkachuk comes in second with 13, Batherson in third with 12 and Giroux in fourth with 11. The team leader Stutzle ranks 14th in the NHL in scoring this season.
Furthermore, the Ottawa Senators come into tonight’s game with the second-best power play in the league. At 42.9 percent the Senators power play has been clicking on all cylinders and Tkachuk is a big reason why. The 25-year-old winger is tied for the league lead in power play goals with four so far this season. It’s a balanced attack that the Rangers defense will need to be sharp to succeed against.
The Senators are also pretty good on defense as they have Jake Sanderson, a young defenseman who is off to a great start offensively in 2024-25. Sanderson has eight points this season which ranks 20th among NHL defensemen.
In terms of goaltending, the Rangers clearly have the edge as Igor Shesterkin has a .923 Save-Percentage on the season. Ottawa has used a platoon of Anton Forsberg and former Boston Bruins goalie, Linus Ullmark and Forsberg has a .895 SV% while Ullmark has a .904 SV%.
What’s Gone Right for the Rangers?
The Broadway Blueshirts have allowed the second-fewest goals (21) in the NHL during the season. Their most recent loss where they surrendered five goals was just the second time all year that they have given up that many.
Shesterkin has been back to his old self of being the Rangers best player, night in and night out and Shesty’s stats bear that out. The Rangers number one netminder ranks seventh in the league in SV% and ninth in Goals-Against-Average (GAA) and is off to a 4-2-1 start. Shesterkin’s numbers could be better if the Rangers manage to play even sharper defensively in front of him.
In addition the Rangers have scored the fourth-most goals-per-game (4.11) in the NHL. Their power play ranks seventh in the NHL at 25.9 percent and their penalty kill is third-best in the league at 89.7 percent. All the stats point towards the Rangers being a better team, but the one thing you can’t measure is what Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette has referred to in recent press conferences as “pop.” Pop is simply energy and the desire to win and in the Rangers loss on Oct. 25 against Florida and their last game against Washington, they lacked pop.
We will see if the Rangers can get their mojo back when they take on the Senators for the first time this season tonight at 7 p.m. ET.
