It's been a tale of two New York Rangers teams early on in the 2025-26 National Hockey League season. The road version is 2-0, with 10 goals for and just one against. But the home version has been incompetent to a historic degree, failing to score a single time over three regulation losses to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers, respectively.
The Blueshirts are, remarkably, the first team in NHL history to be shut out in their first three home games of a season after a brutal 2-0 defeat at the hands of the defending Western Conference champions at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
“This is a unique start to a season,” admitted captain JT Miller afterwards, per the Associated Press. “It sucks that we had a couple games where we feel like we've really thrown a lot at the other team and we're not getting rewarded.
“We can all go home and sleep well knowing we played another good home game. We're competitors. We want to win. We'd love to see the puck go in the net. Right now, it's not.”
New York directed 30 shots on Stuart Skinner, but were unable to beat Edmonton's starting goaltender once. It's now been 180 full minutes of hockey on home ice without a single goal to show for it. The only team with a longer drought at home to start a season is the now-defunct Pittsburgh Pirates in 1928, per AP.
“It's on us to make sure that the mindset stays the same in here and we don't go off the grid to find something,” continued Miller, who has a goal and three points in five games. “We need to stay the course. Over time, results will come.”
Rangers are testing patience of fans
After missing the postseason altogether in 2024-25, this is the last thing the Rangers needed to start their season. The patience of the fanbase is running thin, and the boo birds have already been out in full force over the first week of the new campaign.
“You're dying to give the fans a reason to cheer,” said forward Sam Carrick, who had an excellent opportunity late in the game but was stymied by Skinner. “They support us every night hugely here. Obviously they want to come and see goals. That's the frustrating part.”
The Rangers will have to wait a full week before trying again to score on home ice. They'll play two road games — against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Thursday and vs. the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday — before returning to MSG on Monday.
It'll be the Minnesota Wild in town that night, and things won't get any easier against one of the league's better goaltenders in Filip Gustavsson.
The Blueshirts have proved they can score in bunches on the road, but until they can translate that to home success, they'll continue making history for all of the wrong reasons.
