The New York Rangers got a taste of what life without Artemi Panarin is like Wednesday night, and it wasn’t
The New York Rangers got a taste of what life without Artemi Panarin is like Wednesday night, and it wasn’t exactly pretty. With Panarin scratched for “roster management purposes,” the Rangers dropped a 5-2 decision in the front end of a back-to-back set against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.
The New York hockey rivals meet again Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Panarin won’t dress for that one either. And it’s unknown if he’ll still be a member of the Rangers organization by time the puck is dropped at MSG.
“‘Bread’s’ a terrific player and a great teammate,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan explained after the loss. “He’s good friends with a lot of guys that are in that dressing room. That has an impact on guys. He’s one of the best Rangers of his generation. He’s not an easy guy to replace.”
The Rangers (22-26-6) were thoroughly outplayed by the Islanders (29-19-5), who could’ve scored a lot more than five goals if not for the strong play of Spencer Martin in the visitors’ net. The Islanders outshot the Rangers 36-15, hit the post three times, and had an expected goal share of 61.15 percent, per Natural Stat Trick.
David Rittich improved to 5-0-0 in five career starts against the Rangers. He allowed a first period goal to Mika Zibanejad and one in the second period by Taylor Raddysh.
Five different skaters scored for the Islanders, including Ondrej Palat, who had a goal and an assist 24 hours after he landed on Long Island in a trade with the New Jersey Devils. Simon Holmstrom had a goal and two assists, and Mathew Barzal, Emil Heineman, and J.G. Pageau, also added goals for the home team.
The Islanders were all over the Rangers in the opening period, but only had a 2-1 lead when they skated off the ice into the first intermission.
Palat scored a power-play goal in his Islanders debut at 14:59 to make it 1-0. Holmstrom found his new teammate alone between the circles, and Palat blasted a shot over Martin’s shoulder for his fifth goal of the season.
Holmstrom then guided a pretty pass from Tony DeAngelo past Martin at 16:10 to double the home team’s lead. On the next shift, Rittich robbed Gabe Perreault, stuffing the rookie’s in-close chance with his left pad. That was only the second shot on goal to that point for the Rangers.
But they eventually answered back on the scoreboard with a power-play goal of their own after Vincent Trocheck was high-sticked in the face by Jonathan Drouin at 17:33. Zibanejad scored his team-leading 22nd goal at 18:09, burying a slick cross-crease pass from J.T. Miller to make it 2-1.
It's a power play goal for Mika Zibanejad! pic.twitter.com/BFbGEflZO9
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) January 29, 2026
It stayed that way for more than half of the second period, and most of a crazy short-handed stretch for the Rangers that began at 9:41 when they were assessed three minor penalties at once. Sam Carrick took the original penalty, a trip, and then added a cross-checking minor after the Islanders controlled the puck and skated 6-on-5 with Rittich on the bench for an extra attacker. At the very end of the sequence, Matt Rempe was assessed a boarding penalty.
The Rangers killed off the full two-minute 5-on-3 and were 29 seconds away from escaping the following 5-on-4, but Barzal finished off a gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing sequence for his 13th goal at 13:12 to put the Islanders up 3-1.
Forty-seven seconds later, Pageau collected a loose puck and beat Martin from the slot after the Rangers goalie turned away Marc Gatcomb on a clear look, and it was 4-1.
Again, despite being considerably outplayed, the Rangers answered back. Raddysh came out from beneath the goal line and snuck a shot past Rittich at 15:42 for his eighth goal, to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Taylor Raddysh gets one back for the Rangers pic.twitter.com/E9osVEsN3h
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) January 29, 2026
But with under a minute to play in the second period, Will Cuylle failed to push the puck over the blue line and out of the defensive zone. The Islanders capitalized, getting the puck down low, before Heineman zipped a shot over Martin’s shoulder to make it 5-1 with 47.7 seconds remaining.
The Rangers had no pushback in the third period, when they managed just two shots on goal. The loss was their fourth in five games, and ninth in 11 (2-8-1).
Key takeaways after Rangers lose 5-2 to Islanders
Rangers face ‘different type of challenge without Artemi Panarin
Let’s be honest, even with Panarin in the lineup, it’s been a massively disappointing season for the Rangers. But even during their worst scoring droughts, there was always the hope that some Panarin magic could jolt the Rangers offense, not only because he leads them in scoring (57 points in 52 games), but that he did so each of the past six seasons, as well. Without him in the lineup Wednesday, it just wasn’t pretty, and it sure felt hopeless, even when down by just one goal for more than half of that second period.
“It’s weird when you play with someone for so long and they’re not in the lineup for whatever reason it might be. It’s different, but we have to keep playing,” Zibanejad reasoned postgame.
It’s time to get used to playing without the Breadman, though. The Rangers will trade the pending unrestricted free agent sooner rather than later. For this current crop of Blueshirts, hopefully there’s a decent NHL player or two that comes back in the return package. We’ll know when we know.
But it doesn’t mean this is an easy process.
“It’s just a different type of challenge,” Sullivan explained. “But when you go through these types of challenges, I think it forces all of us to look in the mirror and try to figure out how we can all do a better job. I’m certainly doing that myself. I’m going to try to do the best job I can for this team as their coach, and it starts with bringing the right attitude every day and making sure that we bring a certain level of enthusiasm to what we do.”
Clear ‘turning point in the game’
Perhaps the turning point in the game was Panarin being a late scratch and the reality setting in that he’s likely played his final game with the Rangers. But as far as the game itself is concerned, what happened at 9:41 of the second period was the “turning point in the game,” per Sullivan.
” … you get three penalties in one shift. I’ve never seen that before.”
Carrick took two penalties and then Rempe was whistled for the third penalty, each in the Rangers end of the ice. Probably each one was justified, though the Rangers had reason to complain that the Islanders weren’t assessed a single penalty after multiple players jumped on Rempe, after the towering forward’s boarding minor.
Something you don't see every day:
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 29, 2026
The Rangers committed THREE (3) minor penalties on the same play 🤯😅 https://t.co/Wcl4mZq61mpic.twitter.com/VjA6w4p4Bv
Had the Rangers killed off the 5-on-3 and following 5-on-4 — which they very nearly did — this could’ve been the turning point in a positive way for the Rangers. As Trocheck pointed out postgame, it was a chance for the Rangers to absolutely swing momentum in their favor if they escaped still trailing by one goal.
Instead, Barzal scored a power-play goal. And then the Islanders quickly followed with an even strength tally. And it was 4-1. That was that.
Captain’s anguish
It’s been a brutally tough and disappointing season for Miller, his first as Rangers captain. Though he had that pretty assist on Zibanejad’s goal, there were three plays that summed up Miller’s season — and his anguish — so far.
Right off the hop, Miller zipped a shot off the post. A goal there and who knows? Maybe this game plays out differently with the Rangers up 1-0 early.
Then roughly 14 minutes into the first period, with the game scoreless, Martin flubbed a pass from Cuylle on a 2-on-1 short-handed rush. How many times have we seen Miller mishandle the puck this season, or miss a prime scoring opportunity in this fashion? Too numerous to count.
To make matters worse, the Islanders scored 50 seconds or so later on the same power play to take a 1-0 lead. Of course they did.
Finally, the absolute pained look on the captain’s face when he skated off the ice after this 5-2 defeat. None of this is what he expected. It’s been a true nightmare season for him.
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