A Pyrrhic Goal

Annie Potts usually isn't in a hockey story, but this image seemed perfect considering the line she delivered while standing in a firehouse in New York City. One could make the case that Madison Square Garden needed a fire lit in it for tonight's game as the New York Rangers hosted the Minnesota Wild while looking to reqrite the histroy books when it came to scoring goals at home. As you may recall, the Rangers hadn't done that yet, and they stood 7:19 away from breaking the NHL's all-time record for starting a season without scoring at home. Let's ask the obvious question: did the Rangers make history tonight or did they finally break the scoring drought?

In terms of history, the 2025-26 New York Rangers will remain in second-place all-time thanks to the efforts of their top line.
Artemi Panarin took the feed from Mika Zibanejad and fired home the first goal for the Rangers on home ice, beating Filip Gustavsson just 57 seconds into this game to prevent the Rangers from passing the Pirates' record of being unable to score goals in front of their home crowd. That would end the goalless streak to start the season at 180:57 as the Rangers tossed that attempt at unwanted history aside.

I didn't bother watching the rest of the game as "Blue Jays Fever" gripped the nation north of the border, but it seems like the Rangers got back to their old ways once the chase for history ended. Jonas Brodin would tie the game at the 5:10 mark before Danila Yurov scored his first NHL goal and Karill Kaprizov scored the insurance marker in the third period in a 3-1 Minnesota Wild victory over the Rangers, pushing them to 0-4-0 at home with that lone goal scored.

The frustration seemed to bubble to the surface after the game when reporters asked Mika Zibanejad about getting chances, but not scoring on them during this run of low-scoring losses at home.

"OK, say if I ask you the question, what else should I do more than score?" Zibanejad said. "Like, I have to score. Yes, I understand that. But I'm getting the chances. I'd be more worried if we didn't get any chances, if I don't get that chance, if we don't get those chances. It's frustrating for us. It's frustrating for me. How many looks did we have, not just this game, overall? I honestly don't know what else to do. Yeah, I don't know."

That's the crux of the problem right there - there isn't much else the Rangers can do other than covert some of these chances. As I stated last week on this blog, the Rangers put "25, 35, and 30 shots on net that Artūrs Šilovs, Charlie Lindgren, and Stuart Skinner," and they put another 24 on Filip Gustavsson tonight. They're now shooting 1-for-114 at home - a 0.009 shooting percentage (yes, that's less than 1%). That's almost impossible to do if it weren't for the Rangers living that reality right now. They will move back towards the mean because shooting at less-than-one-percent all season has to be impossible.

For now, the Rangers no longer have to worry about their run towards history at home. It's still a concern around Madison Square Garden when it comes to scoring goals, but watching the Rangers to see if they set a new mark for zero offence at home is done. Now, they can focus on finding ways to score like they do on the road where they dented twine 15 times already this season. Bring that offence home!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!