Daily Report – 1/29/26
Rangers
The Islanders have had the Rangers’ number this season, to say the least. It took the Rangers three games to even get on the board against their rivals. Last night on Long Island, the Rangers lost to the Islanders for the third time this season, 5-2. The teams are preparing to play again tonight as the season series moves to Madison Square Garden.
The most compelling storyline that came out of yesterday’s game didn’t even happen during the game. Just minutes before the Rangers were scheduled to take the ice at UBS Arena, the team announced they would be benching Artemi Panarin for the foreseeable future. A trade is still in the works, per sources, and the destination has yet to be determined, though it seems a move is likely to occur before the Olympic roster freeze on February 4.
Unfortunately, the Rangers’ situation with Panarin, who is arguably the best free-agent signing in franchise history, became inevitable two weeks ago when Chris Drury released his letter to fans announcing a retooling. Drury met with Panarin privately that day and told him he would have to search elsewhere for a contract extension. Panarin, who leads the Rangers with 57 points in 57 games this season, is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. His 1.26 points per game in seven years with the Rangers is the best clip in franchise history.
“Obviously, Bread is a terrific player and a great teammate, and he’s good friends with a lot of the guys that are in that dressing room,” said head coach Mike Sullivan. “That has an impact on guys. I thought our guys did a great job, just as far as controlling what they can and bringing the right intentions out there. But, obviously, he’s one of the best Rangers of his generation, and he’s not an easy guy to replace.”
If the Rangers’ offense, which scores the sixth-fewest goals per game in the league this season, looked bad before, last night’s game showed just how much worse it will get without Panarin. The Islanders outshot the Rangers 36-16. Trailing by three goals for the entire third period, the Rangers could only muster three shots on goal. They fell to 3-10-2 in their previous 15 games.
“It forces all of us to look in the mirror and try to figure out how we can all do a better job,” Sullivan said.
It boggles the mind to think that Drury, the man responsible for the collapse of a team that went to the Eastern Conference Final twice in three seasons and won the Presidents’ Trophy two years ago, gets to facilitate a retool. James Dolan has placed an unconditional trust in Drury, which might be the biggest mistake he could make right now.
Vincent Trocheck, a longtime linemate of Panarin’s, has been tagged as the next major domino to fall. Centers are in high demand across the NHL, so the Rangers could get a decent return if they deal Trocheck before the March 6 trade deadline. He has three years remaining on his seven-year contract, which includes a 12-team no-trade list this season.
“It’s an emotional time,” Trocheck said. “Obviously, I love Bread. I’ve been lucky enough to play with him on a line for the majority of four years. We don’t know what’s happening yet.”
Last night, the Rangers, once again, had to watch in agony as they got outplayed by the Islanders, a team revitalized by their first-overall draft pick, Matthew Schaefer. The Rangers had two chances, with the second-overall selection in 2019 and the first-overall in 2020, to make the right draft call for their future. They were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, in three straight years, teams from Chicago, San Jose, and, most recently, Elmont, NY, have had their fates turned around by their first-overall draft picks.
The Islanders scored the first two goals of the opening period, 71 seconds apart, including a power-play tally by Ondrej Palat, who was making his Islanders debut after they acquired him from their crosstown rivals in New Jersey. More like their crosstown rivals, plus a bridge and a tunnel. Palat finished the game with a goal and an assist. A perfect debut.
With 1:56 remaining in the opening frame, Mika Zibanejad beat David Rittich with a one-timer, marking the Rangers’ first goal in three games against Long Island this season. The score was 2-1 after the first period, but the Rangers did not continue to push. The Islanders scored two more goals before the Rangers touched the board again, via Taylor Raddysh.
“I thought the turning point was the three penalties on one shift,” Sullivan said. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Call it a memorable moment. Add it to the list of milestones the Rangers have achieved this season. I know, it’s such a long list. It’s impossible to keep track of the wonders this team has achieved this year. Midway through the second period, with the Rangers trailing 2-1, Sam Carrick got called for a delayed tripping penalty as he knocked Kyle MacLean to the low ice. Play continued for nearly a full minute as the Islanders deployed an extra skater.
The Rangers were clearly far from thrilled that play did not stop, because Carrick expressed his frustrations by committing another penalty, cross-checking Mathew Barzal to the ice above the right circle. It was like a child throwing a temper tantrum and pushing other kids to get his way.
The official finally blew his whistle for a stoppage at 10:19, when Matt Rempe shoved Marc Gatcomb into the left-wing boards. Anger issues? Rempe was assessed a boarding penalty, the third of his shift. The three penalties yielded two minutes of five-on-three time for Long Island and another two with a five-on-four advantage.
The Rangers were able to kill off the five-on-three sequence, but with 29 seconds remaining on Carrick’s second penalty, Barzal fired a cross-ice feed past Martin, regaining his team’s two-goal lead. 47 seconds later, Jean-Gabriel Pageau slammed Marc Gatbomb’s rebound around Martin’s pads, and the Islanders led 4-1.
Raddysh cut the deficit to two with a goal at 4:18, but with 48 seconds left in the second period, Emil Heineman made it 5-2 Islanders. After Will Cuylle failed to clear the puck away from Ryan Pulock at his own blue line, he fell off the shift, allowing Adam Pelech to cleanly center a pass to Heineman, who found the back of the net.
“We’re going to control what we can, and we’re going to see what we can take from this one,” Sullivan remarked. “We’re going to try to put our best game on the ice tomorrow.”
The Rangers must hope they do not get swept by the Islanders (7 PM, 6 PM CT – MSG, Gotham Sports). Tonight’s game could not matter less regarding the standings, but to Rangers fans, it matters quite a bit.
Knicks
Last night’s game was the Knicks’ most important of the season, and they delivered. Despite being without Miles McBride or Mitchell Robinson, they managed to defend the living daylights out of the Raptors in the third and fourth quarters, securing a 119-92 victory. The win marked their fourth in a row, and they regained the second seed in the Eastern Conference.
“I haven’t looked at [the standings] recently, but I know we’re right there,” said head coach Mike Brown. “Every game is important. Try to go get it, but it’s not the end of the world because there’s a long season left.”
This game will be remembered as the night Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby carried their shorthanded team to a victory. And in many ways, they were the cover athletes of the night. But none of their achievements would have been possible without Landry Shamet.
This is a highly underrated opinion, but watching last night’s game, it quickly became clear that in the third quarter, once Shamet stepped back on the court, the Knicks clicked. Shamet is the Knicks’ speediest player and best on-ball defender, and his team was lacking in pace while he missed 25 games with a shoulder injury.
Once he entered yesterday’s contest, he began to circle the inside behind the basket to help his teammates generate passing lanes. The Knicks shot to an embarrassing 4-for-19 clip from downtown in the first half, including a 2-for-12 mark in the opening quarter. They could not find other ways to score.
But midway through the third quarter, when Shamet returned to the court, he sank a triple with 5:05 remaining, sparking an elusive 18-2 Knicks run, including a 13-0 run that carried through the end of the frame. Shamet posted the statistics to back up his efforts, finishing the third quarter with a team-high +16 rating in six minutes and the second half with a team-leading +24 rating in 13 minutes.
Because of Shamet’s sensational defense, Bridges scored 19 third-quarter points, part of a 30-point night that included 13 points in the final six minutes of the third quarter, when the Knicks outscored the Raptors by 16. Bridges has endured a rough season on both sides of the ball, and he has appeared in trade conversations alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, who posted 22 rebounds in 35 minutes, including 16 in the first half, on a night without his fellow center, Robinson.
During his team’s third-quarter run, Towns dished the pass of the year, running to the hoop for an offensive rebound, throwing the ball over his shoulder while sprinting, and finding Bridges. The bucket extended the Knicks’ lead to nine points.
“I took a good guess that [Bridges] would be in that area,” Towns said. “Trusted him. Trust was rewarded. He was exactly where I thought he was, and we were able to get two points and keep the momentum going.”
Amid the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors that have taken the NBA by storm, plenty of reports have surfaced about how Towns has spent much of this season emotionally hurt by his inclusion in trade talks. Fortunately for Towns, the Bucks were not interested in him at all… before yesterday.
Towns was quick to quell the rumors of his sour feelings toward his team, saying, “I feel like I’ve been in trade rumors a lot for a lot of times, for a year, damn near. That doesn’t bother me. I don’t look at social media or any of that stuff. I focus on the job at hand, which is trying to get wins every single night. As long as I do that, I do my job, I go home happy, and I feel accomplished.”
There is, very much, a chance the Knicks end up trading for Antetokounmpo, and if they do, it will cost an arm and a leg. Specifically, Karl-Anthony Towns and at least one other starter. While the Knicks do not possess the draft capital or young talent Milwaukee is seeking, a trade is possible because Antetokounmpo has previously expressed he wants to come to New York, and he hired star agent Rich Paul to help him reach his desired destination.
That being said, the Knicks are tuning out the noise while focusing exclusively on winning games. “I don’t really care, honestly, until something happens,” said Josh Hart, who scored a team-high 11 points in yesterday’s fourth quarter. “This is good content for people to get through until the trade deadline. I don’t know. Can’t really let that stuff affect you or get to you.”
After yesterday’s game, Bridges interviewed with the MSG Networks broadcast team, and his responses, oddly, sounded melancholy. “In the past weeks, I think the past weeks I was just, just feeling like I wasn’t being coachable to my standard,” Bridges said. “I don’t know what it was. Maybe I was feeling too entitled.
“But it was something where I had to sit down and talk to myself a little bit, and just look at [myself] in the mirror and what type of player I want to be. It was affecting me personally on both sides of the ball.”
These are curious comments from Bridges, who has struggled all year, but has not been the sole focus of criticism toward this Knicks team. Nevertheless, as slow as the start of last night’s game was, and as much as the Knicks had to battle through the first and second quarters before breaking out in the third, there was not much to criticize.
Bridges’ performance was complemented by Anunoby’s 26 points, five assists, six steals, and two blocks. After the Knicks committed 10 turnovers in the first half, they totaled just six in the second, including two in the third quarter. Anunoby was a major reason for this, helping the Knicks get defensive stops with three third-quarter steals.
“He had six steals, seven deflections,” said Brown. “Those numbers are unheard of defensively. The thing I loved about [Anunoby] was his ability to attack the rim. He attacked the rim like a grown man.”
The Knicks look to carry the momentum of their four-game win streak into the weekend. They will host touted trade target Jrue Holiday (the backup to Antetokounmpo) and the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday before welcoming LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. James is 23-8 in his career at the Garden, and he posted 33 points in his previous visit.
As of 3:54 PM on January 29, on Ticketmaster, the cheapest single ticket for Sunday’s game costs $591.40. Sunday will mark exactly one year since the Lakers traded Anthony Davis to Dallas in exchange for Luka Doncic. It was one of the most significant trades in NBA history, and it all went down on a Saturday night in New York City.
Schedule
7:00 PM (6:00 PM CST): NYR vs. LI; MSG, MSG2, Gotham Sports
10:30 PM (9:30 PM CST): 2026 Australian Open, Men’s Semifinals; Rod Laver Arena; ESPN, ESPN App
10:00 PM (9:00 PM CST): Australian Open Tennis Preshow; ESPN, ESPN App
10:30 PM (9:30 PM CST): First Semifinal – C. Alcaraz [1] vs. A. Zverev [3]; ESPN, ESPN App
3:30 AM (2:30 AM CST): Second Semifinal – N. Djokovic [4] vs. J. Sinner [2]; ESPN, ESPN App
Cover Image Courtesy: New York Knicks
