New York Rangers: How they do on national television

The New York Rangers will play 13 games on NBC this season. How do the Blueshirts perform on a national stage?

NBC Sports has a full slate of NHL games this season, 109 in all.  There will be a game on NBCSN every Wednesday night. Later in the season, games will appear on NBC and they will air the Stadium Series, Winter Classic and the All-Star Game.  The New York Rangers have 13 games on the national television slate, about average for the last few years.   How well do they do?

For starters, the fact that the Rangers are a non-playoff, rebuilding team doesn’t seem to have an impact on the number of national games. Last season they were featured in 14 games, second most in the last five years.   In 2016-17 the Rangers played in 16 games and three other years they played on national TV 13 times as they will this season.

How they do

The Blueshirts usually put on a good show.  Last year’s rebuilding squad was the first to post a losing record in the last five seasons, going 4-7-3 for 11 out of a possible 28 points.

A low point was the NBC game on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Billed as the “NHL Thanksgiving Showdown,” the Blueshirts were embarrassed by the Philadelphia Flyers in a 4-0 loss.   The Rangers went into the game with a surprising 12-8-2 record and had visions of a playoff spot.  The loss kicked off a stretch of 14 games with only three wins that knocked them out of the playoff contention.

It was the Alexandar Georgiev show on NBC with the rookie starting five of the last six nationally televised games.  He picked a game on NBCSN to put on a  brilliantdisplay, making 55 saves in a 4-1 win over Toronto on his 23rd birthday.

His 55 saves were the second most in Rangers team history, behind Mike Richter’s 59 in a game on January 31,  1991.

A winning record

As mentioned, the Rangers have had good results in nationally televised games. Here’s the record over the last five years:

2014-15    13 games:  9-3-1
2015-16    13 games:  8-3-2
2016-17    16 games: 10-6-0
2017-18    13 games:  7-6-1
2018-19     14 games: 4-7-3

It’s worth mentioning that the 2017-18 season included the Winter Classic played at Yankee Stadium against Buffalo.  The Rangers have also made regular appearances on Black Friday as part of the NHL Thanksgiving Showdown series.

Success doesn’t matter

The fact that the Blueshirts were in full rebuild mode last season and could be expected to be a playoff contender had no impact on the number of national appearences.  The fact that the team was a Stanley Cup finalist the year before didn’t result in more appearances in 2014-15.

NBC clearly likes to showcase big name talent and that’s why it seems that the Penguins or Capitals are always on the schedule.  Despite the addition of Artemi Panarin, the number of national games this season is one less than last year.

Here is the full schedule of Rangers games on NBC:

Thu., Oct. 17 at New Jersey 7:00 p.m. NBCSN

Tue., Oct. 29 Tampa Bay  7:30 p.m. NBCSN

Wed., Nov. 6  Detroit  8:00 p.m. NBCSN

Tue., Nov. 12 Pittsburgh  7:30 p.m.NBCSN

Wed., Nov. 20  Washington 8:00 p.m. NBCSN

Fri., Nov. 29 at Boston 1:00 p.m. NBC

Mon., Dec. 23  at Philadelphia 7:00 p.m. NBCSN

Tue., Jan. 7  Colorado 7:30 p.m.  NBCSN

Sun., Feb. 16  Boston 3:30 p.m. NBC

Wed., Feb. 19  at Chicago 8:00 p.m. NBCSN

Sun., Mar. 1  Philadelphia  12:00 p.m. NBC

Wed., Mar. 18  Pittsburgh  7:30 p.m.  NBCSN

Wed., Apr. 1 Philadelphia   7:30 p.m.  NBCSN

There are a few games of note.  The October 17 game versus New Jersey will be the first match up between Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko.  October 29 will be the return of Kevin Shattenkirk to Madison Square Garden.  On March 1, Kevin Hayes returns to MSG.

Bonus games

Of course, if the New York Rangers want to get on national television more often there is one simple solution.  NBC televises every single Stanley Cup Playoff game on one of their networks.  In  2014, that meant an additional 25 games on the national stage.

So the way to get to play before the entire country?  Make the playoffs!