Rangers Better, But Still Fall To Columbus

The New York Rangers came into Saturday’s game following an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the Devils on Thursday. New York had a much better effort and performance; Dylan Garand especially kept the team in the contest, but the end result was a 1-0 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. If one silver lining exists, the Blueshirts notched a point on the road, where they have struggled early this season. The Rangers face the Anaheim Ducks at home on Monday. 

Game recap:

Rangers lines vs. Blue Jackets:

Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kartye-Miller-Dorofeyev
Cuylle-Laba-Tolvanen
Bjorkstrand-Dowling-Raddysh

Gavrikov-Fox
Pettersson-Durzi
Šmits-Schneider

Garand
Martin

Scratches: Morrow, Rempe
IR: Sýkora (lower-body), Korpisalo (lower-body)
LTIR: Shesterkin (lower-body), Veleno (lower-body)

A few thoughts

1) Offensively offensive: the offense, which was mildly humming a week ago, has hit a roadblock. The lack of continuity and inability to create chances has rightfully caused an increased level of concern. Coach Mike Sullivan has shifted the top-six to little avail, and the concerns we had coming into the season, masked by the 6-2-0 start, have been firmly on display the past two contests. 

As much as I love Tye Kartye and the effort he brings each and every shift, he is not a top-six winger. I wonder if we will see Cuylle move up if Oliver Bjorkstrand continues to languish on the fourth line. Cole Beaudoin received a cup of coffee while Liam Greentree is not ready, meaning Coach Mike Sullivan will have to find a way to unlock and maximize what is available.

Dealing Adam Edstrom to Nashville for Massimo Rizzo and the No. 148 pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft certainly looks like a mistake. Yes, three of his four goals are empty net tallies, but that also shows he has gained the coach’s confidence to be on the ice late in games. Edstrom is seeing close to 14 minutes of action, including 17+ on Saturday, while racking up 40 hits in eight games. All you can do is shake your head.

2) The analytics from Steve Valiquette are in line with what we saw Thursday and yesterday. Garand was very good while New York did not generate many high danger chances. That discrepancy yesterday resulted in the 1-0 loss.

Coming into the season, trading Artemi Panarin at the trade deadline last season was expected to result in the team struggling to generate chances. Until the last two games, the Blueshirts had done a good job in that regard, even though it may not have looked that way, or we may be clouded by recency bias. Vince Mercogliano spells this out nicely in his recent column: 

“New York has generated 72 HD chances while allowing 58, according to CSA. The margin would have been even wider if not for Thursday’s clunker, in which the Devils registered 14 HD chances, and the Rangers produced only three. Most teams view that as perhaps the most consequential stat, with those that win the HDCF battle often winning the game. That’s been the case in all but one of New York’s games this season. (The Islanders had a 7-5 HDCF advantage on Oct. 6, but the Blueshirts still prevailed.)”

3) Pavel Dorofeyev: While everyone is panicking, Mercogliano points out why the sky may not be falling. A look at his production provides one view, the one prominently mentioned: that Dorofeyev is not living up to his contract. But, a look at the analytics – and yes, this is process over results—provides a completely different view.

“Dorofeyev has registered 11 high-danger shots, which ranks second on the team behind Cuylle’s 12 and in the league’s 97th percentile overall, according to NHL Edge. He’s also working closer to the net, with an average shooting distance of 23.2 feet at five-on-five, compared to 27.9 feet last season, per MoneyPuck. Yet, Dorofeyev’s shooting percentage on those HD shots is only 9.1 percent, well below the league average of 19.3 percent. He shot 18.3 percent in those situations last season, another sign that he’s due for positive regression.”

Both views can be right. The process is better than expected; the results less so. Panic, but temper that with the knowledge that Dorofeyev may not be as far away from breaking through.