After losing in seven games to the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, there were many questions surrounding the New York Rangers heading into 2023-24 season. How would they react to new head coach, Peter Laviolette? Would Artemi Panarin, who had a very underwhelming playoff performance, have a bounceback season? Would the young players like Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko take another big step in their development?
Well, many of these questions were answered as the Rangers finished the season with the most wins and points in franchise history. They also were the winners of the Presidents’ Trophy, as they finished with the most points of any team in the entire NHL. With the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs around the corner, let’s recap what was a historic regular season and see how the Rangers got to where they are and where they hope to be when the playoffs are over.
Oct. 12, 2023 to Dec. 1, 2023: A Great Start
When the season started, the Rangers were seen as likely to be the third-best team in the Metropolitan Division behind the Carolina Hurricanes and the New Jersey Devils. However, both of those teams got off to rocky starts, mostly because of poor goaltending and injuries. On the other hand, the Rangers got off to one of the best starts in franchise history, as through the first 21 games, the team record was 16-4-1 and they were responding extremely well to Laviolette’s system. The 1-3-1 was extremely effective against their opponents and it was leading them to victories most nights. The offense was going strong, the defense was stable, and the goaltending was very good from both Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick.
Panarin started the season on a 15-game point scoring streak, scoring 10 goals and 26 points in those 15 games. One of the only negatives at this time of the season was the injury bug. Adam Fox missed 10 games, Kakko got injured at the end of November and missed 21 games, and the biggest injury came to Filip Chytil, as he sustained a suspected concussion on Nov. 2, 2023, and hasn’t played a game since. Besides the injuries, the Rangers were playing some of heir best hockey and it looked like nothing would be able to slow them down.
Dec. 2, 2023 to Jan. 26, 2024: The Rangers Hit a Wall
This middle portion of the season was not very favorable to the Rangers. After such a hot start, this stretch of hockey was the worst the team had and it was a cause of concern among much of the fanbase. They went 14-13-3 over this stretch and while this play wasn’t bad enough to knock them out of first in the Metropolitan, it showed some flaws in the Rangers’ game that still had to be worked out. One player who struggled during this time was Shesterkin: he was not his normal self and was consistently playing like a below-average NHL goalie. Quick picked up the slack during this time and he was playing like the number-one goalie. The defense was struggling and it looked like they stopped playing with structure during this time.
Related: Rangers Beat Ottawa to Win 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy
It was also during this time that many were starting to notice that Mika Zibanejad wasn’t playing like his usual self. He was not scoring very much and was not doing any scoring at five-on-five. He would get the occasional power play marker, but his even-strength offense was almost non-existent. After having 39 goals the season prior, he ended up finishing the season with just 26. This period was the toughest on him and it was noticeable that he was struggling with something. Whether he was playing through injury or focusing more on the defensive side of the puck, the Rangers needed him to start scoring more, but he never truly got going .
Jan. 27, 2024 to April 15, 2024: A Historical End
Many will say that the Rangers season turned around on Jan. 27, 2024, when they beat the Ottawa Senators, 7-2. This was the start of a 10-game winning streak that tied the franchise record for most wins in a row. They went 26-7-1 down the stretch and ended with the most wins in franchise history with 55 and points with 115; their overall record of 55-23-4, is good for most wins and least losses in the entire league. This truly was a historical regular season and not just for the team, but for Panarin as well. He had so much pressure on him before the season and he blew expectations out of the water, scoring a career-high 49 goals and 120 points in 82 games. He was second only behind Jaromir Jagr, who scored 123 points, for most points in a season in franchise history. He truly was the Rangers’ MVP of the season.
The Rangers now look forward to the playoffs. As of this writing, it isn’t known who they will be facing in the first round, but they will be considered the favorites as far as they go. The playoffs are a different animal and recent history has shown that the Rangers haven’t dealt with that pressure as well as they should have, blowing back-to-back 2-0 series leads in the 2022 and 2023 playoffs. With a new coach and a new mindset, will they be able to end the 30-year Stanley Cup drought? Time will tell, but if the regular season is any indication, they have a great shot of bringing the Stanley Cup back to New York.