Daily Report – 1/8/25

Good afternoon,

Here is today’s report:

Rangers

I want to send my best wishes to John Giannone, who revealed on MSG Networks in Hockey Fights Cancer Night that he has been battling prostate cancer. I am rooting for him. Thankfully, his prognosis is good, and they caught the cancer early. Giannone encourages others to get tested for cancer early.

When Artemi Panarin took a hooking penalty just 25 seconds into overtime, the look of exasperation on his face as he skated to the penalty box was palpable. It was an expression of more than just that penalty, though. The Rangers fell to the Dallas Stars at the Garden last night 5-4 in overtime.

All season long, the Rangers have struggled defensively. Their two-way game has improved recently, and with it their confidence, but it has shown to fall short of two points against playoff teams. Since the Christmas break, the Rangers have demonstrated speed and strength in games against Florida, Boston, Washington, Chicago, and Dallas. Arguably, of those five games, their worst effort came against Boston, and they won that game. The only other win on that list came against Chicago, one of the worst teams in the NHL this season. Last night against Dallas, the Rangers got outshot 19-8 in the opening frame, and they blew a three-goal lead in a period in which five goals were scored in total. Jonathan Quick, seeking his 400th career win, saved the Rangers in many situations, but it was not enough.

In the NHL, a team cannot win games unless they can play effective defense. I am not saying the Rangers are a Stanley Cup contender this year, but playoff teams and Stanley Cup champions prioritize defense over offense and win boring – but necessary – games. When a team scores in high numbers but allows even more goals against, their confidence can plummet. Early this season, the Rangers were scoring plenty of goals but were not defending. Then their offense slumped, and the team it rock bottom. Now, they are falling victim to the same trend all over again. Why? Because their defense is not good enough.

The Rangers only allowed one goal off the rush in this game despite allowing four rush shots against, and it was a sloppy goal that came as a result of a slow Rangers line change. K’Andre Miller also made two key mistakes in this game that led to goals. The first came in the second period when Jason Robertson tied the game at three. Jack Borgen lost his stick, which meant that Miller had to step up on defense. He got tripped up on Robertson’s wraparound, and Robertson scored on a backhand through Miller and Adam Edstrom.

Miller’s second mistake was worse than his first. After the Rangers took a 3-4 lead in the third period, Miller had the puck, and in a miscommunication with the bench about a line change – despite having plenty of time to make a play – Sam Steel took the puck away from Miller behind the Rangers net and found a wide-open Thomas Harley to tie the game. This was especially frustrating because the Rangers played an excellent third period defensively in every other way. It’s those repeated silly, careless mistakes by the same players that continue to cost them wins.

From that point, it is worth noting that against Calgary in overtime last night, the veteran defenseman Jacob Trouba played the puck hard into the back boards behind his team’s net, and he turned it over so poorly that Calgary barely had to touch it to light the lamp and win the game. Trouba and Miller were a defensive pair for the Rangers for most of last season and at times in prior seasons, and they were infamous for turning the puck over at exponential rates. Both physically large blueliners had bad games last night.

Larry Brooks posted on X this morning that “every young defensemen – including [Adam] Fox – has regressed under Phil Housley,” the Rangers associate head coach. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is not that inaccurate, given the events that occurred around the NHL last night. I am not going to blame Phil Housley, but I would like to point out that in terms of playing an effective defensive game, Rangers defensemen that have been asked to play offense have struggled more all season than anyone else on the team. Rangers forwards like Mika Zibanejad, therefore, have been asked to play defense. That is a reasonable request for a veteran and team leader like Zibanejad, but if it becomes too much that it takes away his offensive game, then I’d have to blame the defense more than before for much of the Rangers this season. Which brings me to my next point.

As I mentioned, the NHL is a defense-first league. Therefore, if a team is struggling to win games, then they should prioritize defense over offense. I would desperately love to recommend that strategy to the Rangers, as Steve Valiquette did on the postgame show last night on MSG, but it seems that earlier this season, when I assume the team made that decision – whether it was collective or not – their offense disappeared, and their defense worsened when they were trying too hard to defend. I am not telling the team to put less effort than they are right now toward trying to defend, but I instead want them to continue progressing offensively so that they can reach a state of confidence in which their expected offense will lead to defense. Let the forwards find their game, and the rest will follow. The team is very talented, and I understand there is not much time left in the season now that it is halfway done, but I truly hope this team has the mental wherewithal to be patient and let their defense come naturally. It represents more urgency to me than completely changing the team’s strategy for what would likely be a second time this season. That way, defensive defensemen will find they need not do more than defend.

To add to the Rangers’ extensive list of injuries that currently includes Igor Shesterkin and Chris Kreider, Filip Chytil left last night’s game with an upper body injury. When asked if Chytil’s injury was based on any prior injuries, head coach Laviolette repeated for a second time, “it’s upper body, being evaluated.” I truly hope Chytil is not suffering from another concussion, as this would be devastating for him. This season, he has been playing some of his best hockey in years, and ending a four-game point streak with another head injury for the concussion-prone center might be the worst thing that could happen to him. I pray for the best for Chytil and that whatever his injury is – because it has not been revealed yet – he will recover quickly and in good health.

When a team’s defense fails to match its offense, it can feel very deflating to players, but the Rangers are making progress, and I would hate to see it all slip away because of an unwelcome change in strategy.

The lone Rangers star of the game was C Vincent Trocheck (3: 2 G, 1 A, 3 P).

The Rangers have split the season series with Dallas 1-1.

Knicks

Tonight at 7:30 PM on MSG, the Knicks will host the Toronto Raptors at the Garden. The Knicks look to break a three-game losing streak.

Knicks Injury Report:

• 1/7: PG Miles “Deuce” McBride (hamstring) is questionable to play tonight

• 1/7: C Karl-Anthony Towns (knee) is questionable to play tonight

Schedule:

7:30 PM: NYK vs. TOR; MSG