What a relief. Finally, the Rangers overcame their biggest hurdle. Now, their home record is 1-6-1, and with Vincent Trocheck back, it’s full steam ahead on Broadway.

Also, I don’t want to laugh at the Brooklyn Nets, but they didn’t put up much of a fight against the Knicks on Sunday. That’s because the local tankers couldn’t handle the Knicks, and they got crushed 134-98 at Madison Square Garden.

What will it take for the Rangers to get a win at home? Saturday night’s 5-0 loss continued a miserable 0-6-1 start at home for the Rangers, who couldn’t capitalize on a 4-1 road win against the Red Wings on Friday. It is as if the team has taken a literal face plant onto the Garden ice, because they continue to get shut out there. It feels like the Blueshirts will never win at home.

Are the Giants lucky to have Jackson Dart, or what? Otherwise, they’d be even more irrelevant than their 2-7 record suggests. Everything collapsed after that Week 7 disaster in Denver, in which the Giants achieved some of the worst fourth-quarter records imaginable. The next week in Philadelphia, they lost their sparkplug, Cam Skattebo, for the season. And last week, back at MetLife Stadium, they went down quietly with a 34-24 loss to San Francisco.

The Knicks are riding a 5-0 home record, their best home start since 2012, and every night, a new star emerges at the Garden. Last night, Josh Hart continued his stellar stretch with four three-point field goals, and Mitchell Robinson dominated the offensive glass as the Knicks achieved a 137-114 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Madison Square Garden magic is being used exclusively for one team, and I’ll give you a hint: It is not the Rangers. With a 119-102 win over Washington on Monday, the Knicks improved to 4-0 on their home court. Thanks to a 33-point masterclass from Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks torched the Wizards.

With a couple of overtime wins this weekend, the Rangers extended their win streak to three games and finished their road trip with a 3-1 record. After defeating Edmonton in overtime on Thursday, the Rangers played their best game of the season on Saturday, crushing the Kraken in overtime 3-2.

Jalen Brunson is the captain. Jalen Brunson es el matador. He scored 31 points for the Knicks, including 19 in a spirited 34-point first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the game. Since the Knicks never lost four straight games last season, Brunson and his teammates understood how important it was to win yesterday.

For the Rangers, Jonathan Quick earned his 64th career shutout win as the Rangers ended a three-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, for the Knicks, Mike Brown’s philosophy of “pace” won’t work until his team starts shooting accurately and stops running into so much foul trouble. The Knicks were without Miles McBride or Mitchell Robinson on Tuesday, and they lost to the Bucks 121-111.

First, it's getting late early for the New York Flat Shirts, who fell to the NHL-worst Calgary Flames 5-1 yesterday. Nothing is working for this mixed bag of a roster, featuring slumping stars, lost hopefuls, and overexcited rookies like Noah Laba, who scored his first career goal last night.

I knew this wasn’t going to be much of a season for the Blueshirts, but I never expected it to get this bad. At least, not this early in the season. Not after the way they played to start the year. Now, their defense is gone. The Rangers’ bones are just as tender as they were a year ago. A scoring drought with solid defense has led to a plethora of goals with zero defense.

Go figure.

The New York Giants are faking out their fans. It’s like a cat chasing a laser pointer. What they want is right in front of them, but they can’t quite catch it.

On Sunday in Denver, the Giants committed one of the worst collapses in NFL history, losing 33-32 to the Denver Broncos despite starting the fourth quarter with a 19-0 lead. Before this, 1,602 consecutive games were won by teams leading by 18 points or more with at least six minutes remaining in a game.

A 119-111 win over Cleveland was the perfect way for the Knicks to start their most anticipated season in three decades. Last night, in front of a raucous Garden crowd, new head coach Mike Brown used 11 different players to beat the Cavaliers. Last season, the Knicks never beat the 64-win Cavaliers.

This is a special year because everything the Knicks do in the regular season serves as nothing more than preparation for the playoffs. Brown understands that, and his ability to go deep into his bench, without Josh Hart or Mitchell Robinson available, was something to marvel at.

Here. We. Go.

Welcome to the most anticipated New York Knicks season in nearly three decades. The Knicks are widely regarded as the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference, and with their new head coach, Mike Brown, at the helm, they’re preparing to forget about the past, shut out the noise, and deliver a championship to New York City.

I’ll start this article with what I wrote on Friday after the Rangers scored one measly goal in a crushing overtime defeat in Toronto: Well, at least they scored a goal.

Last night, the Rangers scored their first home ice goal of the season. Thank goodness. Fans were beginning to forget what the goal song sounds like.

For once, the Rangers looked like the Rangers. That is not to say the 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy-winning team is back, but this was the most energizing Rangers win since that season. Trailing 2-0 early to the Montreal Canadiens did not fluster the Rangers, as they came back to win 4-3.

With the win, the Rangers wiped away a three-game losing streak, which included two straight shutout losses and a 2-1 overtime loss. The most important thing about Saturday’s game was who scored for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad’s vintage one-timer – the one he’s been whiffing on for years – found the net at 8:44 in the third period. The same shot cost the Rangers a win on Thursday, but it yielded a goal on Saturday against Montreal’s struggling goalie, Sam Montembeault.

Well… at least they scored a goal.

Last night in Toronto, the Rangers lost 2-1 in overtime to the Maple Leafs. New York continued to defend well throughout regulation time, especially in their own zone, but when it came to scoring goals, they looked sloppy. They couldn’t light the lamp until the third period.

The rookies changed Big Blue’s narrative last Thursday night. Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo are the future Giants fans have been dreaming of for years. There is something special about this duo, and their exceptional performances helped the Giants win a meaningful game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

It didn’t feel like it was the Giants playing on Thursday. That’s how well they performed. Powered by Skattebo’s trio of touchdowns, Dart’s pair, and some sensational defense, the Giants squashed Philadelphia 34-17. They held Saquon Barkley to 58 yards and held the Eagles scoreless in the entire second half.

“It was Eagles vs. Giants tonight,” Skattebo proclaimed. “It wasn’t Skatt vs. Saquon.”

With a 2-0 loss to Edmonton last night, the New York Rangers – the Boo Shirts of Broadway – are the first team in NHL history to open their season with three straight home shutout losses.

Despite their scoreless streak on Garden ice, the Rangers have been playing a higher quality of hockey than they did at any point last season. The new coaching staff, led by head coach Mike Sullivan, has reminded this club about the importance of two-way hockey. That is, being able to sustain a high level of offense while remembering to get back on defense.

The all-too-obvious bottom line for the Boys in Blue is that after skating 120 on home ice this season, they have yet to score a goal. They scored 10 combined goals in Buffalo and Pittsburgh, but they have not tackled Garden ice.

Despite a 1-0 loss at home last night, though, the Rangers played their best game of the season. Unlike last year, when a 1-0 shutout almost resulted from an offensive dud, a shorthanded group of Rangers outshot the reigning division champion Capitals 35-21.

Last night in Western New York, the Rangers did the best thing a team can do after getting shut out: They recorded a shutout of their own, beating the Buffalo Sabres 4-0.

Powered by Igor Shesterkin’s illustrious net-minding, in which he made 37 saves, the Rangers got their first win of the season, and Mike Sullivan’s first as head coach. Despite getting outshot 37-33, the Rangers generated more scoring chances than Buffalo while killing all four penalties they received.