Daily Report – 12/9/25
Rangers
Before the Rangers hosted the Stars last Tuesday, if you had told me the Blueshirts were going to take six of eight points from Dallas, Ottawa, Colorado, and Vegas over the course of six days, I would have probably called you crazy. Dallas, Colorado, and Vegas are three of the best teams in the NHL, and given the Rangers’ abysmal record at home this season, they could never compete with such formidable opponents.
This weekend featured the hardest back-to-back set of the season, with the Rangers hosting the Avalanche and Golden Knights. They lost each game in overtime, 3-2. On Saturday, the Rangers struggled to match Colorado’s offensive production, but a heroic goal by Artemi Panarin in the final minute of the third period, with an extra attacker on the ice, sent the game to overtime.
After a tough battle, Nathan MacKinnon netted the overtime game-winning goal with a perfect odd-angle backhand shot that no other NHL player, except maybe Connor McDavid, could ever produce. The Rangers had to tip their cap to MacKinnon, but at least they could rest easy knowing they played well.
On Sunday, the Rangers came out flat in the first period, clearly tired from the day before. Vegas scored just 36 seconds into the game, and they outshot the Rangers 8-3. But the Blueshirts maintained a high level of physicality throughout the game, laying 18 more hits than the powerful Golden Knights.
Midway through the first period, Sam Carrick energized his team by getting into a fight with Vegas’ enforcer, Keegan Kolesar. It was a bit of a size mismatch between the two fourth-line forwards, but Carrick never fears a matchup.
“We clearly didn’t have our legs or our energy at first,” said head coach Mike Sullivan. “But I thought the guys were storming really well after that. I thought we competed hard, and in the second period, we were the dominant team.”
In the second period, the Rangers scored on two of 16 shots, and Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniére each netted a goal and an assist. Zibanejad’s goal came at 10:52 as he shuffled the puck through the crease before getting it back from Lafrenière and flipping it past Carter Hart to tie the game.
“We’re showing the right intentions in the way we play,” Zibanejad said. “We talked about it earlier in the season.”
Lafrenière’s goal was his seventh of the year. He delivered with a wrist shot from the right circle that deflected off the crossbar, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
In the third period, the Rangers struggled offensively, finishing with just three shots on goal. For 18 minutes, they were able to limit Vegas’ high-danger production just enough so that Jonathan Quick could give them a chance to win. Quick was productive in his first start since November 22, stopping 26 of 29 shots.
However, with just under two minutes left in regulation, the officials called a questionable roughing penalty against Will Borgen and Brett Howden. It was the second two-way roughing call of the game. Sullivan was irate after the call was announced.
Video evidence didn’t show much more than a brief scuffle between Borgen and Howden as each player headed toward their respective bench. Also, it was late in the period, and Borgen and Howden had been butting heads all night.
“There was nothing going on,” Sullivan said. “I think the coincidental minors had a huge implication, right? There’s a big difference between six-on-five and five-on-four and trying to defend it.”
For the final 1:58 of regulation, the Rangers defended Vegas with a five-on-four disadvantage, since the Golden Knights had pulled their goaltender. With 52 seconds left, Vegas took advantage of the numeric mismatch on the ice, and Tomas Hertl pushed a rebound past Quick for the game-tying tally.
“For the most part, we were doing our best to defend the scoring area and the good area of the ice,” Sullivan said. “We felt on the bench that we were in control the way we needed to be. It’s disappointing.”
Because the remaining two seconds of penalty time carried into overtime, four-on-four skating continued for over four minutes before the first stoppage of play. During that time, the officials missed a seemingly obvious tripping call by Mitch Marner against Matthew Robertson that occurred at center ice. The officials didn’t grant the Rangers a single power play in this game.
“Zero power plays and you don’t call that?” Zibanejad exclaimed. “I don’t know. Again, we can’t control it. It stings now. We could probably look at other things that we could’ve done better, not to get to that point, but I thought that one was pretty obvious.”
The first stoppage of overtime came with 18 seconds remaining, and each team could finally begin skating three-on-three. Mika Zibanejad initially won his attacking-zone faceoff against Brett Howden before the linesman called it back.
“I tried to talk to the linesman, but that’s just the way it is,” Zibanejad said. “I think if you go back a few minutes and even in the third [period], you can probably look at some things. I’m not going to say what.”
The second chance allowed Howden to win the next draw back to Shea Theodore, who slung a pass up the ice and off the neutral boards to Jack Eichel on a breakaway. The star forward deked three times to beat Quick and win the game.
The events of Sunday’s game were undoubtedly frustrating, but considering how inconsistent the Rangers have been all season, it’s encouraging to see them play competitive hockey against four top teams in six days. There wasn’t a single game all week that they lost for a lack of effort. It was the perfect response to starting the season 2-8-1 at home and losing their best defenseman, Adam Fox, for an extended period.
Also, the Metropolitan Division standings are shockingly close. The closest they’ve been in a decade, with more games going to overtime than ever before.
The Rangers have 34 points, which ties them with Pittsburgh for the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, they rank tied for fourth in their division, behind Washington (39), Carolina (36), and Long Island (35).
This paves the way for what promises to be an exciting 51 games, and if the Blueshirts continue to compete like they did last week, anything is possible.
Knicks
Is winning the NBA Cup the same as winning an NBA Championship? Of course not! But it wouldn’t hurt to win the NBA Cup, either.
This is the third season of the in-season NBA Cup tournament, and the Knicks will appear in their third quarterfinal tonight when they visit Toronto. They are 0-for-2 in such games, including last year when the Atlanta Hawks torched them, and Trae Young rolled a pair of invisible dice on the Garden floor.
Most of the NBA is on a break right now, but not the Knicks. If they beat Toronto tonight, they’ll earn a trip to Las Vegas on Saturday. The Knicks dominated the Raptors at the Garden on November 30, beating them 116-94. But tonight, the Knicks are on the road, where they are 3-6, and they will be without Deuce McBride, who suffered a left ankle sprain in Sunday’s game. In games without McBride this season, the Knicks are 0-3.
While Toronto will also be shorthanded tonight, with RJ Barrett unavailable, it doesn’t mean they won’t be competitive. There’s added incentive in the NBA Cup knockout games. Each player of the losing team tonight will receive $51,497. Also, making the semifinals guarantees $102,994 per player, and advancing to the finals means each player will receive $205,998. Furthermore, each player from the team that wins the Cup gets $514,790.
And I’m not sure whether Knicks players care about this, but they will likely be taxed higher for each round of prize money than most of the other teams they play, including Toronto. So, would the Knicks prefer to lose tonight and get the week off, or win and continue to compete? Tonight’s game will reveal a lot about how dedicated this team is to winning.
Over the weekend, the Knicks improved to 13-1 at home with wins over Utah and Orlando. They wiped out the Jazz 146-112 on Friday before earning their first win of the season against Orlando, 106-100, on Sunday.
“It’s a big win for us,” said head coach Mike Brown. “They’re well-coached, and they’re a really good team.”
The Knicks were without Karl-Anthony Towns, who was out with left calf soreness, but Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti successfully split the load to fill the void. Robinson totaled 13 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. Hukporti came off the bench and contributed seven rebounds and three blocks.
“Obviously, I have some people ahead of me when everybody is healthy,” Hukporti acknowledged. “It was incredible to show, especially in my second year, to show that I can do it.”
Hukporti didn’t have an easy time on the court, though. He was the culprit of a disastrous-looking injury to Magic star Franz Wagner, who, in the first quarter, bent his left leg backward after being fouled by Hukporti. Fortunately, Wagner only suffered a high ankle sprain, but on television, it looked much worse.
Hukporti was apologetic after the incident. The 23-year-old didn’t mean to hurt Wagner. At the same time, Wagner’s departure helped the Knicks win this game.
Jalen Brunson scored a team-high 30 points and nine assists, but OG Anunoby was the best overall player, scoring 21 points, adding three steals, and netting a +20 rating in his best performance since returning from injury.
“The versatility that OG gives us, it’s unbelievable,” Brown said. “At his size, he can guard a lot of different people. […] Having that size and versatility from OG defensively is huge. He can guard one through five. Then you flip it, his shooting, his ability to attack the rim. All those things, at his size, are huge for us.”
In the third quarter, the Knicks also lost a player, Miles McBride, to an ankle injury. But before that, the Knicks started the third quarter with a 13-0 run, which gave them the lead, and they relinquished it. Orlando cut their deficit to three points a few times in the final minutes of the third quarter, but a 7-0 run to start the final frame helped keep the Knicks on top.
The Knicks took a 16-point lead within the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but once Mike Brown subbed out his starters, Orlando worked their way back. With 19.1 seconds left in regulation, the Magic cut New York’s lead to six points and had possession of the basketball, so Brown had to return his starters to the floor.
Josh Hart’s performance was noteworthy. Now that he’s returned to his role as an everyday starter, his production has improved. On Sunday, he scored 17 points alongside 12 rebounds and a pair of steals. For a few minutes midway through the fourth quarter, before he had to return to the court to save his team’s lead, one of Hart’s twin two-year-old boys joined him on the bench.
“We’ve done a good job of protecting our home court,” Hart said. “This should be the hardest place to play in the NBA, and we want teams to know that.”
The Knicks need to carry their home-court momentum into Toronto tonight. Their only NBA Cup loss of the season came on the road, and so have five of their other six losses. But the competition in NBA Cup games differs from the regular season. Tonight, the Raptors will play well. They will compete. They may surprise the Knicks, even though they are a better team than Toronto.
The Knicks must find a way to win on the road tonight and earn a trip to Las Vegas this weekend.
Schedule
8:30 PM (7:30 PM CST): 2025 NBA Cup Quarterfinals – NYK (3) at TOR (2); MSG, Gotham Sports, Prime Video
