Daily Report – 11/5/25
Rangers
Before last night’s disaster, it looked like the Rangers were trending in the right direction. Now, I’m not so certain. With a 3-0 loss to the Hurricanes yesterday, the Rangers’ home record has dipped to 0-6-1. Against all home opponents other than San Jose, the Rangers have scored just one goal.
That baffling stat might defy explanation.
The Rangers returned to Madison Square Garden after winning three straight road games on a 3-1 West Coast road trip. It makes zero sense that their game continues to self-destruct on Garden ice. It’s an inexplicable phenomenon, especially because the Rangers are generating plenty of scoring chances.
Despite their growing list of injured players, the Hurricanes were able to play shutdown hockey in the third period. This allowed them to maintain a 2-0 lead and hold the Rangers to just one shot on goal in the final frame, which took them over 21 minutes to obtain. But New York’s home losing streak – which includes four shutout losses – came to a head late in the second period when the Hurricanes took a two-goal lead, after which the Rangers’ offense disappeared.
“It just starts with me and the leadership group,” said Captain JT Miller. “This is where we need to dig deep and carry the load a little, and raise our own expectations for ourselves. Not just, ‘We like what we’re doing and we’re getting looks.’”
To make matters worse, the Rangers’ first period was their best-played 20 minutes at home this season. They were active and alert from the drop of the puck, generating high-danger chances after high-danger chances while defending brilliantly. But when a 13-3 shots on goal advantage took a 2-11 turn, a big fat zero stuck to the scoreboard for 40 more minutes. The Rangers couldn’t solve Pyotr Kochetkov in his first start of the season.
A major concern for this Rangers team is their power play conversion rate. Entering last night, they were scoreless on their previous nine power plays. Yesterday, they went 0-for-3 on the man advantage, and in the first and second periods, they totaled nine power-play shots on goal.
For just 11 minutes and 57 seconds this season, the Rangers have held a scoring lead on Garden ice.
“It’s not really cute anymore. It’s been 14 games,” said Miller. “We’re not executing by capitalizing on our chances. They’re big moments of the game. We’re not making teams cheat the game right now, especially at home. They have a lead all the time. They’re going to play the right way.”
Vincent Trocheck is getting close to returning from injury, which will provide a major boost to his team’s struggling power play unit. The two primary reasons why the Rangers have struggled so much on the power play are a lack of faceoff wins and a subpar net-front offense. Trocheck is the Rangers’ most consistent faceoff winner, and Miller is doing his best to screen goaltenders. However, he has not been able to match Chris Kreider’s netfront effectiveness, which energized the Rangers’ power play for years.
“It starts with me,” said Miller. “I need to be better. I need to do something to help drag the team in for a couple extra percent here.”
After the game, head coach Mike Sullivan expressed interest in altering the Rangers’ power play unit. “One of the reasons we stayed with the group we had to this point is we felt like, both from the eye test and analytically, this group has done a pretty good job as far as generating quality looks,” Sullivan said.
It also doesn’t help that Artemi Panarin has just two goals this season and has gone six straight games without a point. In the first period, he got a clean breakaway, but he couldn’t elevate his shot over Kochetkov’s glove. Alexis Lafrenière’s 12-game scoring drought isn’t doing the Rangers any favors either.
“These guys are human,” said Sullivan. “They care about what’s going on. Of course, we want to be a team that prides itself on being good at home and being stingy at home, making this a tough place for people to play.”
Both of Carolina’s goals – the third came with an empty Rangers’ net – came directly off faceoff wins. The first was a power play goal scored by Nikolaj Ehlers. It was his first tally of the season, and before this game, Carolina was the only team in the NHL with a worse power play conversion rate than the Rangers.
Carolina’s second goal, which Sean Walker scored with under three minutes remaining in the second frame, passed Shesterkin because Will Borgen screened him. It wasn’t a good goal for Shesterkin to allow – it was an unblocked mid-range shot – but it effectively ended this game.
Fortunately, the Rangers’ next game is on the road. On Friday night, they’ll visit Detroit to take on the Red Wings.
Knicks
The Madison Square Garden magic is being used exclusively for one team, and I’ll give you a hint: It is not the Rangers. With a 119-102 win over Washington on Monday, the Knicks improved to 4-0 on their home court. Thanks to a 33-point masterclass from Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks torched the Wizards.
Sometimes, Towns plays soft. Last week, he went on a shooting slump that was magnified by foul trouble. But on Monday, he was a different player. He wasn’t Kitten Towns. He was Lion Towns.
“KAT was a monster,” said head coach Mike Brown. “He was a monster on the glass. He was really good defensively. He was a monster inside, outside. He’s starting to feel and find his rhythm in what we’re trying to do.”
Towns has had to adjust to playing forward instead of center this season, but he’s also been juggled around the court. He typically performs better at forward, but with Mitchell Robinson receiving load management on Wednesday, he manned the paint instead. And he owned the interior, registering 13 rebounds along with his 33 points.
Basketball is a funny game. Just last week, Towns shot 2-for-12 in Milwaukee. On Monday, he went 12-for-24, and he recorded his 15,000th career point.
The Knicks struggled through the first quarter, losing the scoring battle 30-22. It looked like they were tired after beating Chicago the night before. Late in the second quarter, in just two minutes, the Knicks went from leading by nine points to trailing by four. But then, with 25 seconds remaining in the half, OG Anunoby scored a three-point shot, and the Knicks regained the lead with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Karl-Anthony Towns. He drew contact on the shot, so he visited the free-throw line and completed the four-point play.
“Just saw opportunities to get some good shots up and be aggressive,” Towns said. “I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.”
The Knicks capitalized on Towns’s key offense with a 41-point second quarter. “We had a stretch where we couldn’t score,” Brown said. “That’s what All-Stars do: They carry the load for you offensively, and [Towns] did a great job with that tonight. […] The learning curve is still big for him, for me, and for us in terms of trying to move him around and put him in different spots. But every game, every practice, every shootaround, he’s getting more comfortable with it.”
Josh Hart played a major role for the Knicks as well, racking up 10 rebounds and a couple of three-point shots. He’s struggled offensively all season, but no matter how disoriented he looks on the court at times, or how injured he claims to be, he can never outrun his grit. And that grit helps him make big plays when key opportunities arise.
Every pace-oriented team needs a strong rebounder, and for the Knicks, Hart is that rebounder. Towns ranks fourth in the NBA in rebounds per game (13.1), but as far as smaller depth players go, Hart might be better. After all, it was Hart whose defensive rebound earned him the assist on Towns’s four-point play.
“It’s who I am,” Hart said. “Mike [Brown] and I talked about that the other day. It’s what makes me, me.”
Talk about basketball being a funny game. Just last weekend in Chicago, Hart looked unplayable. He had a -18 rating while scoring zero points, and he only attempted one shot in 15 minutes. Three days and two games later, there he was with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“[Monday’s game] was led by Josh [Hart],” Brown said. “Josh had a heck of a game defensively. He guarded all types of guys. […] He was our defensive player of the game. He deserved it because of his activity, his awareness throughout the course of the entire ballgame.”
Tonight at 7:30 PM (6:30 PM CST), the Knicks hope to bring Hart’s heart back to the Garden as they continue their seven-game homestand against the Minnesota Timberwolves (MSG, Gotham Sports, ESPN). Karl-Anthony Towns will face his former team, and Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo will return to New York City.
Schedule
7:30 PM (6:30 PM CST): NYK vs. MIN; MSG, ESPN, Gotham Sports
