The New York Rangers spent their past two games unable to keep pace in a pair of track meets in Canada.
The Rangers hope their recent defensive woes do not derail their perfect start on home ice Monday night when they welcome former teammate Artemi Panarin and the Los Angeles Kings.
The Rangers are 6-0-0 at home for the third time in team history. They are two shy of the team record set in 1990-91 for the longest home winning streak to start a season as they have outscored opponents 29-10 at home.
New York went 1-3-1 in its past five games, four on the road, and allowed 22 goals in that stretch. That includes a 7-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Unlike their 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, the Rangers never led and allowed the first three goals before mounting a comeback attempt in the second period.
After scoring on Saturday, Alexis Lafreniere needed just 13 games to record a team-high nine goals. He did not score his ninth goal last season until his 44th game on Jan. 5. Adam Fox posted two assists against Ottawa and has seven in his past three games.
“What’s encouraging is I loved our compete and our fight, you know, to claw back into the game,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “But it’s hard to win chasing the game the way we did.”
Dylan Garand has made seven straight starts since the Rangers lost star goalie Igor Shesterkin for the season. He has allowed 17 goals in his past five games.
Panarin makes his second return to New York since being traded to the Kings on Feb. 4. Panarin scored twice in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win against the New York Islanders but was held without a point for the fourth time this season in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils. Los Angeles’ only goal came from Scott Laughton.
Los Angeles has been held to one goal in five of its nine games. Panarin did not have a point in four in those games – all of which the Kings lost in regulation. They are 2-1-2 when Panarin gets on the scoresheet.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to put the puck in the net,” said Los Angeles forward Trevor Moore. “We need more offense from more guys, for sure.”
The Kings are also having problems getting shots to the net at times. Los Angeles finished with 13 shots on goal Saturday, its fewest since Feb. 1. The Kings played a second straight game without Quinton Byfield due to an upper-body injury.
On Saturday, the Kings allowed 26 shots on goal two days after conceding 43 against the Islanders.
“We’ve been relying on our goalies way too much the last couple of games,” said Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson. “And they’re doing everything they can. They’ve been playing great hockey. We’ve just got to help them out way more.”
In Panarin’s first game at Madison Square Garden since the trade, he had an assist on a goal by Drew Doughty in the first period of a 4-1 win on March 16.
Panarin’s return coincides with Los Angeles coach Peter Laviolette facing one of his former teams. Laviolette coached the Rangers for two seasons but was let go in 2025 after following up a 114-point campaign in 2023-24 with an 85-point showing that left the Rangers short of the playoffs.
