Daily Report – 1/6/26

Rangers

Last night at the Garden, the energy around the Rangers plummeted from euphoria to humiliation as they lost to the Utah Mammoth in overtime, 3-2. Everything the Rangers built at the Winter Classic on Friday seemed to go up in smoke yesterday when Igor Shesterkin went down with a lower-body injury. This afternoon, it was announced that he will be placed on injured reserve, but the plot thickens – the Rangers are also moving Adam Fox back to long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

13 minutes into the first period, Utah’s JJ Peterka crashed into Shesterkin and got his skate caught in his right blocker. Shesterkin had to be helped off the ice, and he couldn’t put much weight on his left leg, which awkwardly slid backward upon contact.

Shesterkin is, by most accounts, the Rangers’ best player. If not him, then Adam Fox is Broadway’s finest. Shesterkin is one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, and without him, the Rangers, who have struggled on both sides of the puck this season, are shells of themselves. According to Steve Valiquette, in the Rangers’ last five games, they have generated 51 fewer scoring chances than their opponents, with 3.7 fewer expected goals, but they have outscored opponents 15-13. Shesterkin is the main reason the Rangers have outperformed their statistical identity.

It felt like, after Friday’s Winter Classic victory, Shesterkin was playing his best hockey of the season. When asked about the impact of losing Shesterkin, head coach Mike Sullivan said, “He’s an important part of this team. We hope it’s not too serious. […] There are certain guys that drive your team, and he’s one of them for us. He’s an elite player at his position. I think he’s one of the very best in the game. Those types of players are difficult to replace.”

After losing Adam Fox to an injury at the end of November, JT Miller got hurt just in time for Fox’s return. Then, the Rangers lost Noah Laba and Conor Sheary last week. Now, it’s Shesterkin’s turn to join the growing list of Black and Blueshirts, along with Fox again.

Jonathan Quick entered yesterday’s game to replace Shesterkin, and he immediately contributed. He got into a net-front scrum after Daniil But hit him in the second period, but he emerged unscathed. Quick finished the night with 15 saves on 18 shots.

“Have [Shesterkin’s] back, plain and simple,” Quick said of his duty last night. “Anywhere on the ice, when your guys go down, you need guys to step up. Step up as a group. Have their backs.”

Unfortunately, the Rangers did not “step up as a group” yesterday, and Quick couldn’t undo his teammates’ defensive miscues. The Rangers couldn’t light the lamp with even strength all night. Their first goal came courtesy of Alexis Lafrenière on the power play as the Rangers penetrated Utah’s zone coverage. Their second goal came eight minutes later on a two-man advantage as Vincent Trocheck tipped Artemi Panarin’s shot past Karel Vejmelka.

Utah responded twice to New York’s one-goal leads, and the Rangers struggled all night to defend their speedy skaters. Dylan Guenther answered first, tying the game at 1-1 on the rush after Lafrenière’s power play tally. After a strong check by Ian Cole at his own blue line, he threaded the puck out to Guenther, who broke free, was stopped five-hole, and netted the rebound over Quick’s shoulder.

Utah’s second goal came six minutes into the third period, during which the Rangers couldn’t break out of their own zone. They kept half-heartedly attempting their zone-clearing attempts, one of which led to Michael Carcone’s overtime-forcing equalizer. Following a neutral zone turnover, he carried the puck halfway across the ice and around Urho Vaakanainen before crashing into Quick as he scored.

After the game, Sullivan was asked if he thought Utah was crashing the Rangers’ net too aggressively. “I think they were going to the net hard,” he replied. “Numerous times, there was contact. When you go to the net hard, sometimes there’s incidental contact. I think we could go to the net hard. It’s an important aspect of scoring goals.”

Watching this game, I did not notice any dirty contact by Utah. Instead, I was left hoping the Rangers could answer Utah’s physicality. The Mammoth stuck their tusks up and made themselves hard to play against. The Rangers, meanwhile, wilted at the sight of tougher competition.

With just over three minutes remaining in the third period, Mika Zibanejad drew a hooking penalty against Sean Durzi, putting the Rangers on the power play. After struggling to generate looks, Sullivan called a timeout with 1:25 remaining on Durzi’s penalty. With the game tied at two, assistant coach David Quinn devised a strategy to keep the primary power play unit on the ice.

When the timeout concluded, the Rags managed to maintain offensive zone time. However, it was as if they were playing in slow motion, because they set multiple screens but refused to fire on any of their shooting lanes, except for a one-time attempt by Zibanejad down low that deflected off the goal post. Then, a few desperation shots by Trocheck, Lafrenière, and Panarin missed as the penalty expired.

The Rangers carried their slow pace of play into overtime, and on a zone entry, Panarin missed his drop pass to Vladislav Gavrikov, and Clayton Keller took over. Guenther gained the zone and passed the puck back to Mikhail Sergachev. He found Keller, who worked the puck beneath the right circle. After a line change, the Rangers got mixed up defensively.

Nick Schmaltz missed his first pass, but Sean Durzi recovered, knocked Panarin to the ground, and sent the puck down to Lawson Crouse. He passed it up to Schmaltz, who found Durzi net-front for the goal.

It felt like the Rangers were turning a corner after the Winter Classic. Now, it feels like their season is crashing down.