Daily Report – 1/26/26
Rangers
29 seconds into the first period on Friday night in San Jose, Mika Zibanejad was assessed a holding penalty, and Macklin Celebrini scored. 1:23 into the frame, Matthew Robertson was penalized for lifting the puck over the glass, and Pavol Regenda lit the lamp.
The Sharks entered Friday’s game 0-for-13 on their previous power play attempts. The Rangers proved to be vulnerable prey.
“You can’t start a game like that,” said a frustrated head coach, Mike Sullivan, who was forced to call a timeout after San Jose’s second goal. “Spot a team a couple of goals and then take seven penalties along the way, and think you’re going to give yourself the best chance to win. It’s just not the recipe for success.”
Facing a 2-0 deficit three minutes into regulation, the Rangers were already wiped out by the younger, faster Baby Sharks, who represent the future of the NHL. With a retool impending for a franchise that has struggled to draft and develop young talent, it is fair to fear the Rangers will never be able to acquire as much young talent as San Jose.
Led by 19-year-old superstar Celebrini, who has recorded 137 points in 120 NHL games, the once bottom-feeding Sharks are back in a playoff spot for the first time since 2018-19. Their roster includes 10 players born in or after 2002 (the Rangers have six), including five drafted in the first round since 2021.
Meanwhile, Alexis Lafrenière, whom the Rangers drafted first overall in 2020, has 221 points in 432 career games, but he has recorded points in only 18 of 52 games this season. Also, 2019 second-overall pick Kaapo Kakko no longer plays for the Rangers, whose youngest active player, Gabe Perreault, is 20 years old with just three goals in 19 games, and he has yet to score on a wrist shot.
“[Celebrini has] been one of the best in the league,” Mika Zibanejad said. “He’s not only shown that against us, but he’s shown that against, I feel, like every team they’ve played. You look at what he’s been able to do, it’s obviously impressive. […] Obviously, his playing well again didn’t help us.”
Celebrini, who scored a hat trick at the Garden on October 23, scored a pair of goals on Friday as the Sharks gobbled down the Rangers 3-1. San Jose extended their lead to 3-0 at 7:37 into the first period when Celebrini fired a slap shot from the inner hash marks past Spencer Martin. They never scored again, but they didn’t need to, because after Sam Carrick got the Rangers on the board five minutes later, they never scored again either.
Taking two penalties in the first 83 seconds of a game was not, as it seemed, a recipe for success. Neither was taking seven separate penalties in 60 minutes. Had they not given up any power play goals, the Rangers would have killed 14 minutes’ worth of penalties. That is nearly an entire period.
“This f*****g sucks,” said an animated JT Miller. “[…] Losing every night, it’s really hard to stay positive. I mean, it’s really hard. This is nobody’s standard or what we’re willing to accept within each other. Losing every game [is what] it feels like right now. I think it’s just constant mistakes and shooting ourselves in the foot.”
There really isn’t much else to say. The Rangers have five games before the Olympic break, during which a trade freeze will be in effect from February 4 to 22. The NHL’s trade deadline is scheduled for March 6. That doesn’t leave general manager and president Chris Drury much time to destroy this roster and secure sufficient draft capital.
However, per multiple reports, the Rangers are preparing to trade defenseman Carson Soucy to the Islanders any minute now. It marks the first move of this retool. The Rangers are scheduled to play back-to-back games against Long Island this Wednesday and Thursday.
Knicks
The Knicks were lucky to escape Philadelphia alive on Saturday. Leading by 17 points with 8:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Knicks looked like they had put the 76ers to bed. But an 18-4 run by Philadelphia put them within three points with two minutes remaining.
That was just the beginning of the Knicks’ tumultuous journey to a 112-109 victory at MSG South. Joel Embiid played as if he drank from the Fountain of Youth, exploding for 38 points in 36 minutes. Jalen Brunson’s 31 points, including six made triples, paled in comparison.
“Playing against [Embiid] is always gonna be a little fight,” said Mitchell Robinson, who recorded a game-leading +14 rating in 27 minutes. He did an excellent job guarding Embiid, who scored 28 points against Karl-Anthony Towns in the first half but was held to 10 in the second. Thanks to Towns’s foul trouble (he fouled out in 16 minutes), the seven-foot Robinson got to guard the seven-foot Embiid in the second half.
“I know he got it going earlier on, and he’s an All-Star player,” Robinson said. “So, with a guy like that, you’ve got to come out there and fight and make some adjustments yourself.”
Towns fouled out with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, so Robinson got some extra playing time. In the final minutes of the game, when the Sixers began sending Knicks players to the free-throw line, head coach Mike Brown decided to deploy a smaller lineup – one that lacked Robinson and Mikal Bridges. That left OG Anunoby on Embiid duty.
“We gotta just have other guys step up,” Brown said. “We can’t control the fouls called, so if somebody is in foul trouble, hopefully the next guy can step up and play the right way to help us get a win.”
Bridges didn’t play in the final 5:24 due to a miserable shooting day. He posted a 3-for-16 clip from the field with just nine points. He went 1-for-7 across seven minutes of the fourth quarter, which led to Philadelphia’s powerful attempt at a comeback.
But the Knicks won the rebound battle by 16 boards, including a 19-6 advantage on the offensive glass. They also had a 26-4 lead in second-chance points, and their bench outscored Philadelphia’s by 17 points. Landry Shamet and Miles McBride combined for 21 bench points for the Knicks.
“Some nights, [bench scoring] is going to have a huge onus on it,” Shamet said. “Some nights, it isn’t. Some nights, it’s just going to change. I’ve been saying that the entire time I’ve been here because we have that group, it’s a carousel. Some nights, it’s going to be a heavy bench night where we come in and pick it up. Other nights, our first five have it going, and the ball doesn’t find us as much. That’s the beauty of our team.”
With Philadelphia trailing by three points with 1:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, Anunoby burst out of the backcourt and converted an offensive rebound into an impressive dunk, putting the Knicks ahead by five. After VJ Edgecombe’s three-point shot brought the Sixers within two, OG Anunoby and Landry Shamet nailed consecutive three-point shots to put the Knicks ahead by eight. 42.9 seconds remained in regulation.
A three-pointer by Tyrese Maxey and a pair of free throws by Edgecombe put Philadelphia three points away with 33.3 seconds left on the clock. Then, Jalen Brunson was assessed an offensive foul. Brown wasn’t sure whether to challenge the call, but Brunson vehemently insisted. The officials had made several mistakes already, and Brown’s successful challenge marked another.
Following the challenge, Brunson made his free throw, something the Knicks had struggled to do all afternoon. They finished the game 15-for-27 from the stripe. On the following play, which sent Anunoby to the line, he only made one of two free throws, leading to a layup from Maxey that put Philadelphia back within three.
With 9.9 seconds left, Anunoby charged to the cup with a layup, and Paul George was called for a foul. Philadelphia successfully challenged the call, but it was their second and final challenge of the game. Therefore, they were unable to challenge a missed call against Shamet as he tried to foul Maxey with six seconds left, or another against Brunson as he supposedly touched Embiid before his game-ending turnover.
With five seconds left, Brunson got fouled on a rebound and missed both free throws, so Philadelphia gained possession. Brunson touched Embiid on the rebound, but nothing was called as he committed a bad pass, turning the ball over to Anunoby at midcourt.
Instead of falling further in the standings, the Knicks earned their first win streak since December. They are now half-a-game behind Toronto for the third spot in the Eastern Conference. They sit one game behind the Celtics for the second seed, who could become a greater threat with Jayson Tatum’s return looming. He ruptured his Achilles tendon against the Knicks in the playoffs in May. Now, he plans to return on February 8 when the Knicks visit Boston.
The Knicks have a difficult schedule ahead. After hosting Sacramento tomorrow, they will travel to Toronto for a big game on Wednesday. They will then return to the Garden to play Portland and Los Angeles this weekend, followed by a brief trip to Washington, DC, a visit from Denver, and an excursion to the homes of two more Eastern Conference leaders: Detroit on February 6 and Boston two days later.
Schedule
7:00 PM (6:00 PM CST): NYR vs. BOS; MSG, Gotham Sports
8:00 PM (7:00 PM CST): 2026 Australian Open, Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals; ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN App
7:30 PM (6:30 PM CST): Women’s Singles Quarterfinals – A. Sabalenka [1] vs. I. Jovic [29]; ESPN2, ESPN App
Not Before 9:30 PM (8:30 PM CST): Men’s Singles Quarterfinals – A. Zverev [3] vs. L. Tien [25]; ESPN2, ESPN App
3:00 AM (2:00 AM CST): Women’s Singles Quarterfinals – C. Gauff [3] vs. E. Svitolina [12]; ESPN, ESPN App
Latest Late Night: Men’s Singles Quarterfinals – C. Alcaraz [1] vs. A. de Minaur [6]; ESPN, ESPN App
