Why the Rangers’ historic home start isn’t cause for concern

The Rangers have become the only team in NHL history to not score a single goal through their first three home games to open up a season, but this should not call for panic.
Edmonton Oilers v New York Rangers
Edmonton Oilers v New York Rangers | Bruce Bennett/GettyImages

The New York Rangers have entered the wrong part of history to begin their 2025-26 National Hockey League campaign as they have become the only team in league history to not score a single goal through their first three home games to open up a new season (among teams that still exist). To make matters worst, the only team with a longer streak are the 1928 Pittsburgh Pirates where they went 187:19 without scoring at home.

Embarrasing? Sure, but when delving deeper into this frustrating yet at the same time hilarious streak, there is not much the Rangers are doing wrong.

Quality chances are being generated

So far at home, the Rangers have generated 9.28 expected goals (xG), which is fourth in the entire national hockey league despite the small sample size for every team. Additionally, the Rangers have registered 39 high danger chances and 56 mid danger chances for at home so far this season, both third in the entire NHL.

"Last season, teams scored 1 goal every 8.6 [mid danger] chances."
Steve Valiquette

So, in terms of creating quality scoring chances at The Garden, the Rangers are among the best in the league right now. So what's the issue?

Terrible luck

Well, throughout their three home games; the Rangers put up 2.66 xG on Arturs Silovs, 3.3 xG on Charlie Lindgren, and finally a whopping 3.43 xG on Stuart Skinner during their 2-0 loss to Edmonton. To put things into perspective, Silovs had the best game of his career, while Lindgren and Skinner both had the fifth best [regular season] games of their careers (data courtesy of Evolving Hockey).

Somehow, someway, the Rangers have just been getting absolutely goalie'd by goalies who are not necessarily considered elite by any means. Yes, Silovs is a good upcoming goaltender while Lindgren and Skinner are respectable netminders in their own regard. But when those three have played the Rangers so far, they have transformed into the second comings of Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy, and Henrik Lundqvist.

The chances are being generated in such quality that when one goes in, it'll start to rain goals for the Blueshirts. However before their next home game versus the Minnesota Wild on October 20th, the Blueshirts will look ahead on the road against Toronto and Montreal.

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