Rangers vs. Blue Jackets: Pregame Notes

The New York Rangers complete their back-to-back with a home matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets (6:00 PM ET - TV: MSG - Radio: ESPN 880 AM). The Blueshirts will wear their third jerseys for the ninth of 10 times this season.

RANGERS RUNDOWN

• Against the Blue Jackets, the Rangers have won seven of their last nine contests and four-consecutive home games against them.
• New York has points in five of its last seven home games and 11 of its last 15 contests at MSG.
• The Blueshirts have points in four-straight games, six of their last seven and nine of their last 12 contests (7-3-2).
• The Rangers have recorded a point in 20 of their 27 games (15-7-5) since the beginning of the 2025 calendar year and since Jan. 2, rank tied for sixth in wins (15), fifth in points (35), and tied for fourth in regulation wins (13).
• Since Jan. 2, the Blueshirts rank third in the NHL in goals scored (90) and have scored three or more goals in 18 of their last 27 games, including 14 games with four or more tallies. New York has scored three or more goals in 10 of its last 15 games.
• The Rangers have had 26 different players score a goal this season, tied for the most in the NHL and 29 unique point getters, tied for the second most in the NHL.
• New York defensemen have accumulated 116 assists this season, tied for the fourth most in the NHL.
• The Blueshirts rank third in the NHL in penalty kill percentage (83.0) and their 11 shorthanded goals are the second most in the league. New York has had a perfect penalty kill in five of its last seven games, including 5-for-5 on Saturday.
• The Rangers rank second in the NHL in faceoff percentage (53.3) and have been 50 percent or better in 44 of 63 games this season (69.8 percent), including 14 of their last 19 games.
• When the Blueshirts score four or more goals in a game, they are 20-3-3 and when they allow two or fewer goals, they are 26-2-0. The Rangers have allowed two or fewer goals in 26 of 31 victories this season.
• Since the start of last season, the Rangers have posted a 64-2-0 record in 66 regular season games in which they have allowed two goals or fewer (not counting team goals awarded for shootout win).
• Prior to Friday's trade deadline, the team acquired defenseman Carson Soucy from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft (originally San Jose’s by way of Vegas) and forward Brendan Brisson and a third-round pick (originally from San Jose) in the 2025 NHL Draft from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for forward Reilly Smith.

RANGERS AND BLUE JACKETS CONNECTIONS

• Rangers forward Artemi Panarin played two seasons with the Blue Jackets (2017-18 and 2018-19).
• Rangers assistant coach Michael Peca finished out his career with the Blue Jackets, playing two seasons with the team (2007-08 – 2008-09).
• Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson played 13 games for the Blueshirts during the 2020-21 season.
• Columbus’ Senior Advisor John Davidson served as the Rangers President for two seasons (2019-2021).
• Director of Hockey Operations for Columbus, Rick Nash, played parts of six seasons with the Rangers (2012-13 – 2017-18).

POINT PER-GAME PANARIN

Artemi Panarin has a goal/point streak of four games, his longest goal streak since Dec. 23-30, 2023.

Panarin has multi-point games in three of his last four games, 16 points in his last 15 games (7G-9A) and 27 points (11G-16A) in his last 24 games.

Among Rangers skaters, Panarin ranks first in goals (27), points (66), power play goals (8), power play points (21) and shots (189). He is the eighth player in Rangers history with at least four consecutive 60-point seasons, joining Jean Ratelle (8), Andy Bathgate (8), Rod Gilbert (7), Phil Esposito (5), Walt Tkaczuk (5), Kelly Kisio (4) and Mike Rogers (4).

Panarin has at least one point in 43 of his 61 games (70.5%) this year. Since 2023-24, he has points in 110 of 145 games, tied for the third most in the NHL.

Since the beginning of last season, his 186 points (76G-110A) rank sixth in the NHL.

Going back further, among NHL skaters since his debut in 2015-16, Panarin has the fourth most assists (555) and fifth most points in the NHL (847).

MILLER TIME

J.T. Miller has points in seven of his last eight games (5G-6A) and 15 points (7G-8A) in 13 games with the Blueshirts, including six multi-point games. His six multi-point games since Feb. 1 are tied for the third most in the NHL.

Miller has 21 points (8G-13A) in his last 19 games.

Since the 2021-22 season, Miller is the only player in the NHL to have recorded 300 or more points as well as 600 or more hits. In that same time frame, he is one of 11 skaters to have three or more 50-plus assist seasons, and his 334 points are the 13th most in the NHL.

MIKA MARCH

Mika Zibanejad has points in seven of his last nine games (4G-6A), 16 points in his last 13 games (5G-11A) and 18 points in his last 18 games (6G-12A).

Zibanejad ranks tied for ninth in the NHL in points (16) since February 1 and tied for ninth in assists (11).
Since the 2019-20 season, in the month of March, Zibanejad ranks tied for fourth in goals (39) and seventh in points (80).

When he scores a goal this year, the Rangers are 9-3-2 and 9-1-0 when has multiple points.

Zibanejad's 244 goals are the 10th most in franchise history and two shy of tying Steve Vickers for the ninth most. Zibanejad’s 105 power play goals with the Blueshirts rank fifth in franchise history and since 2016-17, the tallies are the sixth most in the league.

TROCHECK IN THE CIRCLE

Vincent Trocheck ranks fourth in the NHL in faceoff percentage (59.5) and third in faceoff wins (718).

He has eight points in his last 11 games (2G-6A) and 10 points in his last 15 games (3G-7A). On the Blueshirts, Trocheck ranks tied for second in goals (17), fourth in points (40) and assists (23). His 163 shots are the second most on the team.

Trocheck ranks eighth among NHL forwards in average ice time (21:18).

KREIDING INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS

On February 22 in Buffalo, Chris Kreider tied Camille Henry for the most power play goals in franchise history with 116.

He ranks tied for second on the Rangers with 17 goals this season, with six of his 17 goals being game-winning tallies. His career total of 50 GWGs are the second most in Rangers history behind Rod Gilbert’s 52 and he is the eighth active American skater to score 50 career game-winning goals

Since 2021-22, Kreider’s 12 shorthanded goals are the most in the NHL. His 12 career shorthanded goals are tied for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list. The total is the third-most shorthanded goals among active American players behind Cam Atkinson (19) and Blake Coleman (17).

Also since 2021-22, his 58 power play goals rank tied for third in the NHL.

BLUESHIRT BULLETS

• Will Cuylle ranks third in the NHL in hits (230). Cuylle has seven multi-point games this season and has seven points over his last nine games (4G-3A), including four points (2G-2A) in his last five games. Cuylle ranks tied for second on the Rangers in goals (17).
• Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle are two of four NHL players with 15+ goals, 30+ points and 150+ hits.
• K’Andre Miller’s 43 takeaways are tied for the fourth most among NHL defensemen. He is the only player in the NHL with 80 or more hits and 40 or more takeaways.
• Since 2021-22, Igor Shesterkin ranks fourth in wins (130), third in save percentage (.918) and fourth in GAA (2.49). This season, Shesterkin has allowed one or fewer goals in 11 of 21 wins and two or fewer goals in 18 of 21 wins.
• Braden Schneider is one of six NHL players with 105+ hits and 100+ blocked shots and the only one who averages 18 minutes or less of ice time per game.
• The Rangers have posted a 66-11-4 record in the 81 regular season games where Alexis Lafrenière has scored a goal in his NHL career.