Every New York Rangers brief The Playbook has printed, newest first — 13 editions so far. Plus the 6 Ledger calls this paper put in print on them, graded. The Archive runs two days behind the paper.
The New York Rangers won 3-1 at Calgary on Wednesday after a 4-3 win at Seattle on Saturday 7 November and a 3-1 loss at Edmonton on Monday 9 November. The Rangers are 11-8-1 and continue on the road at the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday at 9:00 pm ET. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin is out for the season and will need surgery and a lengthy rehab on his right knee. Defencemen Sean Durzi and Alberts Smits are on injured reserve. Adam Fox has 2 goals and 20 assists, Alexis Lafrenière has 9 goals, and Mika Zibanejad has 5 goals and 13 assists. Adam Sykora, a left wing, is also on injured reserve. The Rangers have won two of three away from home.
# Rangers return to Madison Square Garden seeking end to four-game slide
The New York Rangers host the Saint Louis Blues on Tuesday, November 3 after a run of defeats that has sharply changed their early-season picture. The latest was a 4-1 loss to Edmonton Oilers on November 1. Before that, New York lost 6-3 to Los Angeles Kings and 7-4 to Ottawa Senators. The team is listed on a four-game losing streak, making the home fixture an immediate chance to interrupt it.
The three most recent results contain seventeen goals conceded and eight scored: four against Edmonton, six against Los Angeles and seven against Ottawa, with New York scoring one, three and four. The progression from four Rangers goals against Ottawa to one against Edmonton has not produced a result in any of those games. Each defeat has been by three goals.
New York's overall record is 7-7-1 through fifteen games, giving the club 15 standings points in the Metropolitan Division. Those are team standings points, separate from the individual player points recorded through goals and assists. The Rangers' recent losing streak sits alongside an even split of regulation wins and losses for the season.
Adam Fox has one goal and sixteen assists, a total of 17 player points. Alexis Lafrenière has nine goals and seven assists for 16 player points, while Mika Zibanejad has three goals and nine assists for 12. J.T. Miller and Tye Kartye each have ten player points.
The team injury report lists Sean Durzi as day-to-day, with Igor Shesterkin, Joonas Korpisalo and Adam Sykora on injured reserve. Those are current reported statuses, not an explanation of the recent scorelines or a final lineup for Tuesday.
The game against St. Louis Blues begins at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 3. The Rangers have 15 standings points from 15 games, a 7-7-1 record in the Metropolitan Division.
Saint Louis visit Madison Square Garden on November 3 in the NHL regular season. The Rangers' immediate objective is simple to measure: stop the losing streak. The recent goals against make the defensive side of that task as important as finding enough offense to win.
The Rangers host the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden tonight trying to end a three-game losing run. Monday's 3-6 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings followed a 4-7 loss at the Ottawa Senators and a 4-5 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs, so New York scored 11 goals but conceded 18 across the three games.
The Rangers are 7-6-1 with 15 points from 14 games. Adam Fox leads the team with 17 points, 16 of them assists, Alexis Lafrenière has 9 goals and 16 points, and Mika Zibanejad has 11 points. J.T. Miller and Tye Kartye have 10 each.
Eighteen goals allowed in three games is the number the Rangers most need to fix against Edmonton.
Three losses in eight days. The Playbook expects Edmonton to win Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
That call follows directly from the shape of the last eight days. Eleven goals scored, 18 conceded across the 4-5 away loss to Toronto, the 4-7 loss in Ottawa, and the 3-6 home loss to Los Angeles — and Dylan Garand is now the default starter with Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve requiring surgery, Joonas Korpisalo out at least four more weeks, and James Reimer listed day-to-day with an upper-body injury, per The Athletic. Against that, Edmonton arrives at Madison Square Garden at 9-2-2 with 56 goals scored in 13 games. The goaltending situation alone reframes the matchup. Whoever starts in net carries a workload the Rangers cannot budget for. Alexis Lafrenière leads the club with 9 goals and 16 points; Adam Fox has 17 points from the blue line. Those two can generate chances. But the structural question Sunday is whether the Rangers can limit a deep Edmonton forward group when the crease situation remains unsettled. Sports Illustrated reported Thursday that the Rangers may face a significant lineup decision; Yahoo Sports noted a forward continuing to defy expectations — both threads suggest Mike Sullivan still has options to deploy. Watch the defensive-zone faceoff draw assignments early: that is where Sunday's shift structure becomes readable.
Three straight losses. Eleven goals scored, eighteen conceded. That is the arithmetic of a franchise now fielding its third-choice goaltending option while ownership, per Bolavip US, is pressing Mike Sullivan to deliver a playoff result on the back of over $50 million in losses. The decision on who mans the crease is not academic — Igor Shesterkin is out for the season following knee surgery, Joonas Korpisalo has at least four more weeks on injured reserve per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, and James Reimer is day-to-day with an upper-body issue. That is the system, stripped bare. Alexis Lafrenière carries 9 goals to the next scorer's 4, and Adam Fox sits at 17 points — both load-bearing. Edmonton arrive Sunday at Madison Square Garden with 20 points from 13 games and a healthy Connor McDavid not in this injury report. The consequence lands then.
Three losses in five days. The goaltending situation is the mechanism. Igor Shesterkin is on injured reserve with a season-ending knee injury, per The Athletic, and Joonas Korpisalo will miss at least four more weeks, per Sportsnet. That leaves James Reimer, signed to a one-year deal on October 25th, as the active option in net. In the 3-6 home loss to Los Angeles Kings yesterday, Tye Kartye led the Rangers with two points — but the Kings' Drew Doughty alone posted three. The New York Times reported that the feel-good start has faded, and the margin for error with it. Edmonton arrives at Madison Square Garden on Sunday carrying an 8-2-2 record and 52 goals in 12 games. With Mattias Ekholm out and Devon Levi on injured reserve, the Oilers are also shorthanded — but they are not fielding an emergency goaltender. Watch how Mike Sullivan deploys his penalty killers: Alexis Lafrenière, the team's leading goal-scorer, cannot do that work alone.
Adam Fox produced four assists in the 4-5 away loss to Toronto Maple Leafs two days ago, climbing New York Rangers scoring lists per Yahoo Sports — but the Rangers still surrendered five. Tonight at Canadian Tire Centre, The Playbook expects the Rangers to lose to Ottawa.
The constraint is goaltending depth. Shesterkin is done for the season with a knee injury, per The Athletic, and Korpisalo is at least four weeks away, per Sportsnet. Spencer Martin or Dylan Garand gets the start against an Ottawa side sitting at 14 points from 11 games. Linus Ullmark is himself on injured reserve, so goaltending is a shared vulnerability — but Ottawa's 7-4-0 record and a goal differential of plus-one mirrors New York's own precarious position.
Fox leads the Rangers with 14 points (all assists). Alexis Lafrenière sits alongside him at 14 points on 8 goals — two skaters doing the heavy lifting while the roster around them rotates. Thomas Chabot is out for Ottawa; the Senators lose their top shutdown defender, which opens ice for Lafrenière in the offensive zone.
The shift to watch is New York's special teams deployment on the road — where Ottawa's home power play sets the tone.
Oliver Bjorkstrand's two goals in the 5-2 home win over Anaheim Ducks stopped a two-game slide. Toronto is the next test, at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. The Playbook expects a Rangers loss — Toronto's 38 goals in 11 games reflect an offense this Rangers defensive group has not consistently contained, and New York arrives with a net goal differential of -4 across its last three games.
The constraint the Rangers are operating inside is real. Igor Shesterkin is done for the season, per The Athletic's reporting, and Joonas Korpisalo is out at least four more weeks, per Sportsnet. Dylan Garand carries the workload. Sports Illustrated reports the club has scouted two trade targets in goal, but no move has been made. Garand plays Thursday. Alexis Lafrenière leads the team at 13 points on seven goals and six assists. The gap between Lafrenière and the next closest producer is significant; if Toronto's penalty kill limits his deployment on the power play, the Rangers' scoring options narrow fast. Watch the Lafrenière matchup in the first period — that will show whether this win over Anaheim was a reset or a one-night reprieve.
Jet Greaves shut out the Rangers at Nationwide Arena on Saturday. The Playbook predicted that result, and it landed — the 0-1 overtime loss to Columbus completed a three-game stretch in which New York scored five goals and surrendered nine.
On balance, the Rangers win at home against Anaheim tonight.
The constraint is real: Shesterkin is done for the season, per Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic, and Korpisalo is at least four weeks away per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Dylan Garand carries the workload. His one verified reference point is a 19-save, 6-2 win over Vancouver on 12 October, per ESPN — competent, not untested. Against an Anaheim side sitting at 22 goals for and 21 against across seven games, that workload is manageable. Lafrenière's 11 points lead the offense; no other Ranger in the top five has more than nine. That concentration is a dependency, not a depth chart. Watch Lafrenière's deployment in the offensive zone early — if he generates, the matchup favors New York.
Dylan Garand is back in net tonight at Nationwide Arena. The Rangers travel to Columbus on one day's rest, their third game in four days, carrying the wreckage of the 1-7 away loss to New Jersey Devils two nights ago. On balance, The Playbook expects a Rangers loss in Columbus tonight.
That call is made knowing the injury picture is as bad as it gets for New York. Igor Shesterkin is done for the season — per ESPN, Garand made 19 saves in the 6-2 home win over Vancouver Canucks in his first start after Shesterkin went down, but New Jersey showed Thursday what a fully pressured Garand looks like. Joonas Korpisalo remains at least four weeks away, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Mike Sullivan has no goaltending depth above the AHL level.
The scoring load compounds the problem. Alexis Lafrenière carries 11 points — seven goals, four assists — against a runner-up total of nine from Adam Fox. Columbus sits at 4 points through five games, with a goal differential of minus-5, so the matchup is winnable. But a Rangers group running on thin goaltending and Lafrenière's concentration of offense, travelling on back-to-back rest, is the side with more to prove at Nationwide Arena.
Dylan Garand starts tonight at Prudential Center. The Playbook expects the Rangers to win.
Two wins since Shesterkin went down — the 6-2 home win over Vancouver Canucks and the 4-1 home win over Tampa Bay Lightning — show this team has not stopped functioning. This paper called the Tampa result and it landed. Now the test moves on the road, where Mike Sullivan cannot control the matchup the way he can at home. Garand made 19 saves against Vancouver, per ESPN, and has held up through a stretch no backup rehearses for. Joonas Korpisalo remains on injured reserve, so the depth behind Garand is thin. Bolavip US reported the organization has begun searching for a longer-term solution between the pipes — that search has not produced a transaction yet. On the ice, Alexis Lafrenière carries seven goals to every other skater's two. New Jersey sits at six points with a goal differential of minus-six across six games. The Rangers travel to Newark with 12 points from eight games and a two-game winning streak. That gap in team-wide scoring is a real dependency, but the Devils have conceded 22 goals already — enough runway for Lafrenière and Mika Zibanejad to find room.
Igor Shesterkin is done for the season. Dylan Garand starts tonight against Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden, and that is the matchup that shapes everything else.
The Rangers win tonight at home. Tampa Bay arrives with a 4-1-0 record and 16 goals through five games — an offense that punishes any goaltender shaky in the first period. Garand has to hold structure early. If he does, the Rangers' forward depth makes the difference.
That depth is real. Alexis Lafrenière leads the club with 8 points (5G, 3A), and Sports Illustrated noted this week he is beginning to fulfill the promise that surrounded his draft pedigree. Mika Zibanejad sits at 7 points on one goal and six assists — a creator leaning on volume setup rather than finishing. That split matters against a Lightning team that can score; the Rangers need goals, not only chances. Gabe Perreault has 6 points on 3 goals and offers a second route to finishing if Lafrenière draws the heavier defensive attention. This paper called Sunday's win over Vancouver and it landed — New York Rangers 6-2. The offensive floor here is established.
Watch the faceoff deployment in the defensive zone early. That is where tonight's answer arrives.
Eight points from six games puts the Rangers in a position to press — expect them to win Sunday at Madison Square Garden against the Canucks.
The 1-3 away loss to Washington Capitals snapped a two-game run of comfortable home results: a 4-2 win over Utah Mammoth and a 5-2 win over the Islanders. Alexis Lafrenière leads the club with 4 goals and 6 points. Mika Zibanejad has 4 assists and 5 points; Adam Fox, operating from the blue line, has 5 assists without a goal. That distribution — Fox and Zibanejad feeding rather than finishing — puts significant offensive weight on Lafrenière and Gabe Perreault's 2 goals. The injury list complicates the deployment picture: per Yahoo Sports, head coach Mike Sullivan made a decision on Igor Shesterkin before the Capitals game, and the roster has absorbed the loss of Joe Veleno to injured reserve alongside Spencer Martin, with Gabriel Beaudoin recalled from Hartford to cover. Vancouver arrives with a goal differential of minus-4 through five games — 21 scored, 25 allowed. The home matchup favours New York. Watch the first-unit deployment on the power play to see whether Sullivan rebuilds around Zibanejad or shifts the load.