That 7-1 drubbing by the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at Prudential Center? Yeah, that was flat-out embarrassing and concerning all at once. This isn’t the time to jump off the New York Rangers bandwagon, not yet, but this kind of performance definitely makes you nervous. These Rangers had built up some serious goodwill, not just by winning six of their first eight games this 2026-27 season, but by *how* they were doing it. It was total team buy-in, committed defensive structure, a ferocious forecheck, and an ability to jump on opponents and play with leads.
From Solid Start to Single Mistake Disaster
For the first 19 minutes of that game, the Rangers actually looked like the better team. The first period was scoreless for a long time, and they didn’t even allow a shot on goal until nearly 10 minutes were off the clock. Seriously impressive. They even killed off a full two-minute 5-on-3 Devils power play without giving up a single shot on goal. It felt like they were in control. Then, late in the period, after one of their best offensive zone shifts came up empty, the puck went back into their end. With under a minute to go, J.T. Miller made an inexplicable errant pass to nobody in the middle of the ice. Evan Rodrigues picked it off and absolutely buried it past Dylan Garand at 19:30, putting the Rangers in a 1-0 hole.
That Miller mistake was the clear turning point. It shouldn’t have been, right? It was just 1-0, with an intermission coming to regroup. But it was the turning point because the Rangers completely folded to start the second period. It was eerily reminiscent of last season and the one before, when one mistake often led to a slew of miscues.
The Second Period Nightmare Comes Alive
Coach Mike Sullivan and every Blueshirts fan out there are going to have nightmares after this one. This debacle looked exactly like the disconnected meltdowns from the previous two disappointing seasons. This squad looked nothing like the poised, confident team from the first eight games; instead, they were back to looking like the teams that failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past two seasons, including finishing 30th overall in 2025-26.
Just 18 seconds into the second period, Garand let a long Luke Hughes shot bounce between his pads. Uh oh. That’s when you knew an ugly flashback was brewing. It got confirmed fast. Nico Hischier jammed home a loose puck at 4:08. Then, just 31 seconds later at 4:39, Arseny Gritsyuk buried a rebound after Garand had stopped his initial breakaway. Sullivan called a timeout after that third Devils goal, but it did absolutely nothing. After Gritsyuk’s goal, Garand, who had been so good leading up to his first Rangers-Devils rivalry game, was pulled. Spencer Martin came in, but it didn’t clean things up at all. The odd-man rushes and defensive breakdowns just kept coming. The Devils added one more goal in the second period, and two more to close out the game.
The Rangers are going to have to shake off this embarrassing 7-1 loss and figure out what happened to that early-season defensive structure before their next game. This kind of collapse, especially after a promising start, can’t become a habit if they want to avoid another season like the last two. They need to get back to that disciplined hockey, and fast.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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