After the first month of the 2023-24 NHL season, the New York Rangers have been dominant in all aspects of their game and are leading the Metropolitan division. The defense has improved drastically from their shortcomings last season, and the offense is averaging 3.31 goals per game. Goaltending hasn’t been as strong with Igor Shesterkin’s early injury, but backup goalies Jonathan Quick and Louis Domingue have stepped in to record important wins to keep the Rangers’ momentum going. With the improved defense, the Rangers’ goalies don’t have as much pressure to be the deciding factor in games as they did in seasons past. The Blueshirts hold an 11-2-1 record so far and look to build on that with a tougher slate of games coming up in the next couple of weeks.
The Rangers’ stars are putting up incredible numbers to start the season. Artemi Panarin has scored a point through every game this season, with 24 points in 14 games. After his dreadful performance in the Rangers’ first and only round of the playoffs last season, he finds himself tied for third in the league’s points standings. Chris Kreider tallied six power-play goals through the first 14 games, contributing to the Rangers’ status as the second-best power-play this season. Mika Zibanejad is off to a slower start than usual but is tied for second on the team in assists with the injured Adam Fox. Somewhat surprisingly, Alexis Lafreniere has 11 points through the first games, with three of them coming from Thursday’s 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild and another two goals in Sunday night’s win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He scored the game-tying goal and the game-winner in the shootout. He has benefitted from being on the second line with Panarin and has been able to fine-tune his passing ability while receiving open scoring opportunities. Last season’s coach Gerard Gallant rarely put Lafreniere in the top six, and now that he’s up there, he’s playing better than he has in his entire career. Fellow young forward Filip Chytil started the season on the second line with Panarin and Lafreniere, but Vincent Trocheck stepped in at center after Chytil’s injury. Trocheck had a goal and two assists in Thursday’s game and two goals in the previous game against the Detroit Red Wings, stepping up after a slow start to the season.
The defensive improvement is the biggest factor in the Rangers’ success in the beginning of the season. Jacob Trouba’s leadership at the blue line has negated the impact of Fox’s knee injury last week, which landed him on the long-term injured reserve. Trouba leads the team with 50 blocks and finds himself second in hits with 38. Youngster K’Andre Miller is also stepping up this season, defensively as well as offensively, with 20 blocks and seven points. The greatest impact player for the defense this year has been Erik Gustafsson, who is playing a similar role to Fox during his injury absence. Gustafsson is the only defenseman on the power play, which is a role served by the best offensive defenseman on the team. The veteran defenseman is proving to
be the Rangers’ best offseason addition, and he recorded 10 points in the first 14 games as well as 16 blocks on the defensive side.
The Blueshirts’ goaltending has also been quite strong despite Shesterkin’s early injury, with backups Quick and Domingue coming to the rescue. In four starts before his own injury, Quick won three of his games and led the team to overtime before losing in a shootout. Domingue stepped in after the top two goalies went down, and he recorded 25 saves on 26 shots for the win in his first NHL start in almost two years. Quick recorded the win against the Blue Jackets on Sunday night and stopped all three shootout attempts after regulation. Shesterkin is not expected to return this week, but the Rangers have been just fine without him.
Running a 10-game points streak, the Rangers find themselves at the top of the Metropolitan division heading into Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, their first matchup against them this season. The game will be the first of a four-game road trip where they’ll look to build on their momentum before their three-game homestand at Madison Square Garden.
