Halloween might be long over, but the New York Rangers‘ season is turning into a never-ending nightmare — at least at home.
The Rangers were shut out at Madison Square Garden for the fifth time in seven home games on Saturday night to begin the season — their worst home start in franchise history.
Even worse, the latest horrific game came against their fiercest rivals, resulting in a 5-0 loss to the New York Islanders.
In a season that is turning into something out of “The Twilight Zone,” the Rangers — who ironically have the best road record in the NHL to date — have become the first team to be shut out in five of their first seven home games since the 1928-29 Pittsburgh hockey Pirates, according to Sportsnet Stats, as their home record has now slipped to 0-6-1.
“It’s frustrating,” said captain J.T. Miller. “Disappointing we can’t put together … We’ve had some good nights at home and some that weren’t. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot today.”
Miller continued that the Rangers allowed two many two-on-ones and didn’t capitalize on their looks. They out-attempted the Islanders 22-9 in the third period, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Rangers had a 4-1 advantage in high-danger chances in the frame, and 73.2% of the expected goal share.
By then, the Islanders had already tilted the game in their favor. Bo Horvat had scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season to help the Islanders to a 3-0 lead entering the third. Jonathan Drouin had also scored his second goal of the season.
After failing to generate a goal for most of the third period, the Rangers surrendered an empty-netter to Jean-Gabriel Pageau with just over two minutes remaining. Anders Lee extended the Islanders’ lead to five with 30 seconds left. Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves for the shutout.
“Tonight’s a very different story than some of the other games that have been played here,” said Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan. “For me, we beat ourselves tonight.”
Even more maddening is the fact that the Rangers’ league-worst home record is offset by their league-leading 7-1-1 road record, which they improved on Friday with a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
“I think we’re just playing like a different team home and away,” said defenseman Adam Fox. “Got to figure it out and got to find a way to get wins at home, because it’s hurting us right now.”
Their polarizing home and road records have left the Rangers in mediocrity, with a 7-7-2 record and 16 points in 16 games, which, as of Sunday morning, places them in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division and sixth in the Wild Card race — two points behind a playoff spot.
After many home nights this season, the Rangers have discussed making The Garden a daunting place for visiting teams to play. Yet the skate is clearly on the other foot this season.
“You want to build a feeling for teams coming in here,” Mika Zibanejad said. “It’s going to be tough, but obviously, we haven’t.”
The Rangers are back at The Garden on Monday night for a game against the Nashville Predators. The Predators, who currently rank 30th in the league with a 5-8-4 record and have been outscored 38-29 so far this season, are the worst team the Rangers will have faced at home.
Will Monday be the night the Rangers break the home curse? “Stranger Things” have happened. Yet Sullivan knows that there’s only one scapegoat if they fail, and it isn’t the supernatural.
“Our group is a proud group,” Sullivan said. “Yeah, it wears on you. We haven’t won a game at home. If it doesn’t wear on you, there’s something wrong.”
