Daily Report – 11/4/25
Rangers
With a couple of overtime wins this weekend, the Rangers extended their win streak to three games and finished their road trip with a 3-1 record. After defeating Edmonton in overtime on Thursday, the Rangers played their best game of the season on Saturday, crushing the Kraken in overtime 3-2.
In addition to outshooting Seattle 27-13, the Rangers never allowed more than five shots on goal in a single period, and according to Steve Valiquette, they allowed zero high danger chances in the entire game. That’s right, zero. Complete and utter dominance by New York.
“I thought tonight might have been our best, just as far as controlling territory, defending hard, limiting shot quantity and quality,” said head coach Mike Sullivan. “I thought it was a great effort by everybody. All four lines were involved, and I thought we had a good flow.”
It’s a remarkable achievement for this group of Rangers to defend as well as they did on Saturday, especially in the fourth game of a grueling West Coast road trip. The Rangers have set a new standard for their defensive potential, and it’s finally aligning with goal scoring.
Vladislav Gavrikov scored the Rangers’ first goal on Saturday, and it was his first as a Ranger. Jonny Brodzinski moved deep into the offensive zone and caught his own rebound. Fighting a backcheck, he skated the puck behind the net and passed it out to Adam Fox at the right point. He swung it to Gavrikov on his left, who flung it past an Adam Edstrom screen and in and out of Joey Daccord’s glove for the goal.
Two minutes later, Seattle tied the score with a power play goal. Chandler Stevenson scored on a wrist shot from the left circle. But that tied score lasted just 61 seconds before the rookie Noah Laba netted his second tally of the season.
“It’s about experience,” Laba said. “And the more I get, the more I feel like I’m just building my game and building my confidence.”
After losing a defensive zone faceoff, Laba advanced to the neutral zone and stole the puck from Matty Beniers. Alexis Lafrenière collected it, drove to the offensive zone, and made a back-pass to Will Cuylle, whose shot got stopped by Daccord. But Laba was perfectly positioned to dish the rebound into the net.
“[Laba’s] game just gets better right in front of us every game that he plays,” Sullivan remarked. “He’s just playing with so much confidence, and he’s hungry. He’s strong on pucks. I think his speed is evident.”
After Seattle tied the game in the second period, the Rangers defended their way through the third to force overtime. JT Miller, who netted the game-winner on Thursday, skated through two forwards to generate an odd-man rush. He made a cross-ice pass to Will Cuylle on his left, who ripped the puck over a diving Daccord.
“We did great as a team,” said Laba. “Every line contributed, playing in their zone, pucks north, controlling the play in the o-zone, and you could kind of see it with the shots. And we did a great job in the d-zone, too.”
The Rangers are now 6-1-1 on the road, but their 0-4-1 home record still looms large. Tonight, at 7 PM (6 PM CST), they will host the gritty Carolina Hurricanes at the Garden (MSG, Gotham Sports, TNT, HBO Max). That first home win will take a massive weight off the shoulders of these New York Rangers. The last thing they want is to be perceived as an easy team to play against.
“You want to win at home,” Mika Zibanejad said yesterday. “You want to make sure that you create a feeling at home where it’s a tough building to come in and play against us.”
Forechecking is Carolina’s bread and butter, so for the Rangers to beat them, they must find a way to match their physicality. In their last few games, the Rangers have done a much better job at finishing their checks and generating a greater variety of offense. Against Carolina, they will need to exert more defensive physicality. It takes more than stick checks to beat the Hurricanes.
“I think the most important thing is just understanding what successful hockey looks like for this group,” Mike Sullivan said. “I think that road trip provided plenty of evidence to suggest that if you play the game a certain way, we’re gonna set ourselves up for success.”
Schedule
7:00 PM (6:00 PM CST): NYR vs. CAR; MSG, Gotham Sports, TNT, HBO Max
