The New York Rangers have been terrible at Madison Square Garden this season, but up until this point they'd handled themselves quite well on the road. Saturday marked the final game of the Blueshirts' mini road trip, and they fell 3-2 to the Utah Mammoth which sends them back to New York on a four-game losing streak.
Rangers' failure to generate chances costs them once again
The Blueshirts scored just two goal on 22 shots against the Mammoth, and the goals came back to back. Vladislav Gavrikov deflected an Adam Fox shot to make it 1-1 toward the end of the first period. Artemi Panarin scored on a breakaway just about the midpoint of the second period to make it 2-1 Blueshirts, and it was all downhill from there.
Utah scored two unanswered goals, and the Rangers didn't really ever threaten to get back in the game. New York had three shots in the second period, and seven in the third. Utah tallied eight shots in the second, and 13 in the third period. The two period total was 21 to 10 in favor of the Mammoth, and that is a trend that the Rangers need to break.
J.T. Miller injury left lines unbalanced
Miller is day-to-day with an injury, and it is good that the Blueshirts sat him down so that he can get better. The result of his absence in the lineup meant that Mike Sullivan reunited his top line of Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, and Alexis Lafrenière. It was a line that pushed for most of the evening, but the remainder of the lines really didn't give the effort the team needed.
Tough night for young blue liners
Matthew Robertson entered the evening with a pretty solid body of work, but he turned in his worst performance of the season. He was on the ice for all of the Mammoth's goals, and wasn't confident with the puck. Scott Morrow was also a minus two, and both he and Robertson logged the fewest TOI among defenders. Robertson played 14:20 and Morrow logged 15:22. Adam Fox logged 27:23, and Vladislav Gavrikov skated 23:20 and the pair absorbed most of the shifts that would have gone to the youngsters.
Sullivan displeased with team's overall effort
Mike Sullivan didn't summarize the game in three words, but he got it done in five.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) November 23, 2025
“I thought we got outplayed.” https://t.co/SH9z82Cyr7
The Rangers should have picked up some points on this trip, but it is hard to say they deserved points tonight. They were outplayed as Sullivan stated, and Jonathan Quick was the only player who really brought it for 60 minutes. That needs to change if the Rangers wants to get back on track and into a playoff spot, and they will have more opportunities during the upcoming week. New York returns home to MSG for a game on Monday against the St. Louis Blues, they head to Carolina for a game on Thursday, and then play in Boston on Black Friday, and back home again on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.