New York Rangers Weekly 10/16/17: Blueshirts Digging A Deep Hole 1
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 10: Kevin Hayes #13 of the New York Rangers skates against Carl Gunnarsson #4 of the St. Louis Blues during their game at Madison Square Garden on October 10, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

One win in six games and a three-game losing streak isn’t how the New York Rangers hoped to start the 2017-18 season.

The Rangers have a lot of things going on early in the season and none of them are good. With losses to St. Louis, Columbus and New Jersey this week the finger-pointing has begun.

Date Opponent Result
Tuesday, 10/10/17 vs. St. Louis L 3-1
Friday, 10/13/17 @ Columbus L 3-1
Saturday, 10/14/17 vs. New Jersey L 3-2

Oh, Baby!

Here are some of the highlights from the past week.

With his first period goal against St. Louis on Tuesday, Mika Zibanejad joined Rick Nash as the only Rangers to score a goal in each of the team’s first four games of a season.

Kevin Hayes scored his first goal of the season against Columbus on a pretty wrist shot that Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky couldn’t get a piece of.

Saturday’s game against the Devils saw another forward erase the zero from the goals scored column as Rick Nash got the Rangers out to an early lead with his first of the year.

It’s A Power Play Goal!

The Rangers’ power play, which was once hot, has cooled off dramatically. This past week saw the team go just 1-for-10 with a man advantage and they’ve failed to convert on their last six chances.

Who’s Hot

TORONTO, ON – OCTOBER 7: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs in an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on October 7, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario. The Maple Leafs defeated the Rangers 8-5. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Zibanejad remains the hot hand on a struggling team. He currently leads the Rangers in goals (five), power play goals (four) and is tied with Kevin Shattenkirk and Mats Zuccarello for the lead in points (five).

Who’s Not

Take your pick in this category. Michael Grabner, Jimmy Vesey, Rick Nash, Hayes and Henrik Lundqvist are all struggling. So is head coach Alain Vigneault.

Transactions 

10/9/17: Rangers claimed F Adam Cracknell off of waivers from the Dallas Stars.

10/10/17: Sent C Filip Chytil to Hartford (AHL); released Andrew Desjardins from his PTO.

10/14/17: Activated RW Jesper Fast off of injured reserve.

Injuries

The Rangers have no injuries to report.

Upcoming Schedule

Date Opponent
Tuesday, 10/17/17 vs. Pittsburgh
Thursday, 10/19/17 vs. New York Islanders
Saturday, 10/21/17 vs. Nashville
A graduate of St. John's University class of '91. I have been a fan of the New York Rangers since the days of Peter Puck. Founder of Ranger Proud, the Facebook page that covers all news, notes, pre /post-game stats, and player quotes. I can be reached at [email protected]