Daily Report – 12/1/25
Rangers
This season hasn’t been easy for the Rangers or their fans, and on Saturday, it got even worse as the coochie coochie coo shirts went down quietly to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1. The loss came one day after a dominant performance in Boston in which the Rangers held the Bruins to just five high-danger scoring chances while generating 11 in a 6-2 win.
Against Tampa Bay, the Rangers got outshot 35-13, including just two shots on goal in the first period. But the biggest shot they took was an upper-body injury to Adam Fox. The star defenseman, who has totaled a team-leading 26 points (3 goals, 23 assists) in 27 games while quarterbacking the Rangers’ power play, will miss at least 10 games and 24 days. Some reports suggest he’ll miss around 20 games.
The worst part about Fox’s injury is that it came in a game in which the Rangers put up, arguably, their worst effort of the season. It was the second game of a back-to-back set, so they were probably tired. That’s an explanation, though. Not an excuse.
The Rangers knew the Lightning had also played the day before. They knew they were riding a six-game win streak. They knew their backup goaltender, Jonas Johansson, was in the net. And they knew they were missing three key players. The Rangers also knew they had to win at home because of their miserable 2-7-1 record at the Garden despite a league-leading 11 road wins.
“At no point in that game were we deserving of winning,” said Rangers’ captain JT Miller, who scored his team’s only goal on Saturday. “[Shesterkin] did everything to keep it close.”
Poor Shesterkin. Starting his second game in as many days, the goaltender stopped 31 of 34 shots. He showed urgency.
As for the rest of the team?
“There was no urgency,” Miller said. “We dipped our toe into the game. We got outplayed basically the whole time. It’s unacceptable. It’s not nearly good enough at home. For some reason, we were very content with not bringing our ‘A’ game.”
This trend at home is, honestly, inexplicable. Watching this game, it made no sense why the Rangers didn’t shoot the puck more. “There’s gotta be a willingness and a want to be first to pucks, to embrace physicality,” said head coach Mike Sullivan.
Were the Rangers dominated in puck possession? Of course they were. But when they had chances to shoot the puck, they didn’t. They slowed down on every possession. They prioritized passing over battling for shots.
“We got outcompeted from the drop of the puck,” Sullivan said.
The Rangers had a chance to turn the game around in the second period, down 2-0 with 2:29 remaining. Despite trailing in shots 23-6, Mika Zibanejad passed the puck to Adam Fox at the right point. He moved in and aced a net-front pass to JT Miller, who deflected the puck past Johansson to put the Rangers on the board.
However, New York couldn’t carry that momentum into the third period. Two minutes into the final frame, Nick Paul tipped Nikita Kucherov’s low pass past Shesterkin for the dagger. Once Tampa Bay took a 3-1 lead, this game was over.
“It just becomes meh,” Zibanejad said. “You can talk about will, you can talk about how much you want it, but you just have to find a way to just let loose and just go play. That’s at least how I feel at times. It’s just not hockey. We have to find a way to make plays and play with a little more swag.”
With Fox out for at least a month, the Rangers will put five forwards on their first power play unit, which will hopefully make up for some of the “swag” lost in Fox. He is an elite offensive defenseman and arguably the Rangers’ best playmaker, so losing him for any time is significant. Artemi Panarin will move to the point, and Will Cuylle will rejoin the unit, according to Peter Baugh.
Sullivan admitted he decided to play five forwards on the first power play unit because he doesn’t believe any of his other defensemen would succeed at quarterbacking a power play. However, rookie defenseman Scott Morrow is someone to keep an eye on to eventually earn this role, since he’s a playmaker at the point.
Knicks
Last week, a report came out stating that in September, Josh Hart got robbed of $185,000 worth of watches. Now, he is seeking revenge.
With OG Anunoby and Landry Shamet out with injuries, Hart has thrived amid a higher workload. After an impressive defensive performance against Giannis Antetokounmpo in Friday’s NBA Cup match, Hart scored 20 points against Toronto yesterday. He also added 12 rebounds, seven assists, and three steals in 35 minutes as the Knicks dominated the Raptors 116-94.
“To hold a group like this to 94 points speaks a lot about us defensively tonight,” head coach Mike Brown said. “You’re not going to do this to the Raptors night in and night out. Our physicality without fouling while getting back in transition was huge for us.”
The Knicks have now won four straight games, and Hart has been at the center of it all. The Knicks have a limited bench right now, so Hart has received more minutes. This isn’t typical of Brown, but he has had to pivot in the wake of injuries.
“I’ve said this quite a bit, especially our first three losses, I’ll take the hit on that,” said Brown when asked about why, earlier this season, he played Hart off the bench. “The tough part was, I’ll back it up further. He didn’t really play in the preseason. He didn’t even really practice in the preseason.”
Because Hart is so versatile, he can impact a game both off the bench and as a starter. Not knowing whether or not to play Hart off the bench is a good problem for the Knicks to have.
“For me, I was behind the eight ball trying to figure out how to incorporate him with what we were trying to do,” Brown said.
After defeating Toronto last night, the Knicks improved to 10-1 at home, the second-best home record in the NBA. It’s always a good sign when a team can hold an opponent to less than 100 points, and the Knicks took advantage of a tired group of Raptors coming off a game the day before.
“Our fans make playing at home so fun, and the support they give us, and the energy they give us is priceless,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored a team-leading 22 points against Toronto. “Of course, we want to give the fans the best product, the best version of ourselves every single night, but it’s really the fans that bring out the best in us.”
In the opening five minutes, Miles McBride nailed a trio of three-point shots while scoring 12 points, and the Knicks finished the first quarter with a 41-22 lead. Things fell off a bit as Toronto outscored them 30-18 in the next frame, reducing their lead to seven points at halftime.
“I think at times, we got a little lazy, a little sloppy,” Josh Hart said. “But we kind of cleaned that up and were able to build a lead.”
Five minutes into the third quarter, Toronto cut the Knicks’ lead to three points, thanks to a strong effort by former Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley. But the Knicks didn’t flinch, and as soon as their lead fell to three points, they exploded with a 12-0 run and finished the third quarter with a 93-77 lead.
Mitchell Robinson earned the Timberland boots for his sensational defense. Off the bench, he totaled 15 rebounds in 17 minutes, including a team-leading seven offensive boards. Mikal Bridges was also strong defensively, holding Raptors star Brandon Ingram to just 14 points for the second time this season.
“Just trying to do whatever to help my team win,” Bridges said.
The Knicks will visit Boston in a primetime matchup tomorrow night, and they will host Charlotte on Wednesday.
Schedule
8:15 PM (7:15 PM CST): Monday Night Football (MNF), Week 13 – New York Giants (2-10) at New England Patriots (10-2); ESPN
