The New York Rangers have hit their first legitimate rough patch of the season, dropping back-to-back high-scoring road games in Ontario. Surrendering 12 combined goals to Toronto and Ottawa, capped off by Saturday night’s messy 7-4 loss at Canadian Tire Centre, has exposed glaring cracks in New York's defensive insulation.
Yet amidst the road woes, one massive positive continues to shine through. The Blueshirts' best player extended his scoring streak and reached another milestone at breakneck speed. Alexis Lafrenière is no longer just showing flashes of top-line potential as his ascension into a bona fide NHL superstar is happening right before our eyes.
Alexis Lafrenière reached nine goals tonight, the 13th game of the season. Here's how many games it's taken him in his past seasons:
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) October 25, 2026
2025-26: 44 games
2024-25: 26
2023-24: 30
2022-23: 54
2021-22: 44
2020-21: 48
A dominant opening month for No. 13
This strong 7-5-1 start for the Rangers has largely been fueled by Lafrenière driving the bus. He has been a game-changer on virtually every shift, processing the game with high-end pace. Whenever the puck touches his tape in the neutral zone, dangerous transition offense follows.
Head coach Mike Sullivan has used Lafrenière across multiple combinations, skating him on the top line with Mika Zibanejad, rotating him through the middle six, and locking him onto the top power-play unit. At this point, you could drop him onto the fourth line and he would tilt the ice. Rangers fans have waited years for this level of consistent swagger, and through 13 games, he is driving play like a franchise pillar.
Lafrenière's points per 60 minutes are a career-best of 3.68, and this has him ranked 23rd in all of the NHL according to Moneypuck.com. It is the most on the Rangers by a considerable margin, with Adam Fox at 3.22.
Career highs on the way
Through 13 games, Lafrenière has racked up nine goals and six assists for 15 points. Maintained over an 82-game campaign, that puts him on an eye-popping 96-point pace. Reaching that stratosphere would completely obliterate his previous career high of 57 points, a mark he hit in consecutive seasons.
Lafrenière needs this to happen for two reasons. His legacy is under the microscope, and his future with the Rangers is uncertain. Putting together a point total in the mid-90s this season solves both of those problems.
This offensive explosion could not have arrived at a more urgent time. With Igor Shesterkin lost for the year to a knee injury and rookie Dylan Garand beginning to feel the heavy wear and tear of the starting crease, the Rangers’ margin for error in low-event defensive battles has evaporated.
In both the 5-4 heartbreak in Toronto and the 7-4 loss in Ottawa, New York failed to secure a point, but they still hung four goals on the board in each contest. Lafrenière was the primary catalyst in both fights. As the Rangers head back home to Madison Square Garden, leaning on their budding superstar to outscore their defensive growing pains might be their only path forward.
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