GREENBURGH, N.Y. — The New York Rangers can win on the road.
Their challenge is figuring out how to win at Madison Square Garden too.
“I think we provided a lot of evidence for ourselves [on our road trip] that if we play the game a certain way with the right intentions, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win,” coach Mike Sullivan said Monday.
The Rangers traveled last week for a four-game trip and won the last three at the Vancouver Canucks (2-0), Edmonton Oilers (4-3 in overtime) and Seattle Kraken (3-2 in overtime) after a disappointing start (5-1 loss at the Calgary Flames).
They scored first in each of the three wins and even rallied from 3-1 in the third period in Edmonton. In doing so, New York improved its road record to 6-1-1.
But the Rangers were back at their practice facility Monday, preparing to play the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, MSG, SN1). They’re 0-4-1 on home ice, the lone point coming in a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks in their last home game on Oct. 23 before the road trip.
They were outscored 9-1 in their first four home games and became the first team in NHL history to be shut out in its first three home games of a season.
“I just think so far it’s been a tough start at home, and we need to make it more of a priority to start the game on time,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said. “I think probably three out of the five games at home we definitely haven’t started on time. That should be a thing we should be focused on for [Tuesday]. We focused on that after the Calgary game, and it propelled us to have good games. So, I think when we start well, we play well.”
To Miller’s point, New York has been outscored 5-2 in the first period at home, twice allowing a goal in the last minute before the first intermission. It has scored first in the first period in five of its eight road games, going 5-0-0 in those games.
“It’s not like we’re trying to put a certain game on the ice at home and then put a different game on the ice on the road,” Sullivan said. “Is there a human element associated with playing at home versus playing on the road? There could be a little bit of that. I think the most important thing is just understanding what successful hockey looks like for this group and I think that road trip provided plenty of evidence to suggest that if we play the game a certain way, we’re going to set ourselves up for success.”
The way, as the Rangers showed in Vancouver, Edmonton and Seattle, is to be defensively sound without sacrificing offense. It’s to be quick and assertive in all three zones, to generate more starts in the offensive zone than the opposition. It’s to be resilient.