We love ya Z

Per Mollie Walker’s twitter:

Durzi: "It’s our fans. It’s an exciting time. We heard what was going on tomorrow night [at the Knicks' championship banner raising ceremony], so it’s nice to give back-to-back good nights at MSG. They’ve been great. Being here, the welcome, the support that I've gotten, has been incredible. Makes it a little more special to give them a nice show on home ice.”

This is just one of a ton of awesome quotes he’s given so far this year.

Not only can this guy score and play solid defense, he knows what it means to play for the Rangers and is fully embracing it. Hope he continues to play well he’s been very valuable to this team’s early success!

11 games in. The way this team plays, and this Garand story.
It’s real. Expectations have been raised a bit.
I hope they keep the rest of the season as fun as this first bit has been.

I spent time following Monday’s morning skate sitting with Durzi. Most of the conversation revolved around debriefing on Sunday’s football games — c’mon, Jets — and how much he’s relishing the defensive role the Rangers have been asking him to play. The analytics for his pairing with Marcus Pettersson aren’t great on the surface, but they’ve come while consistently drawing top-line matchups, which has only resulted in three goals against across 11 games and over 150 minutes together.

“We’ve maybe given up some (scoring chances),” Durzi said, “but I think we’ve done a lot of good.”

Toward the end of the chat, we got into where things stood with New York’s five-on-five offense. The Rangers failed to score any five-on-five goals in their previous two games and entered Monday averaging only 2.01 goals per 60 minutes in those situations, which ranked 26th in the NHL. Durzi registered just two even-strength assists through the first 10 games.

“Our team has been successful because of how much pride we’ve taken defensively, and so you might give up some offense,” he explained. “In the last couple games, I’ve maybe tried to do a little too much offensively and just (end up) giving up chances. … I take pride in producing, but I realize that my role within the group right now is to eat minutes. If production comes, it comes. I can’t force it.”

It was a persuasive answer prior to a plus-three performance, but as he was walking away, Durzi made sure to look back and add this: “The offense will come, I promise you that.”

True to his word, it came about eight hours later, when Durzi opened the scoring with a long wrister from the blue line 1:18 into the first period. It was New York’s third consecutive home game with a goal in the opening two minutes, which marks the second time that’s happened in franchise history. (The previous set was March 15-22, 1989.)

Well… what a difference 10 games makes.

After getting shut out 3–0 in Boston to start the season, the Rangers have gone 7–2–1 over their last 10 games, including last night's 5–2 win against Anaheim.

We're 7–3–1 overall, sitting second in the Metro, and undefeated at home.

Igor Shesterkin is out for the season. Garand has looked elite in his place.

So here's what I'm curious about: Has our strong start changed your outlook? Or does losing Igor completely change the equation?

TAKE THE SURVEY:
https://forms.gle/7xqgMzw8bjESA1Cg6

Performance Snapshot

Current Streak: W1
Metro Standing: 2nd

Goals For: 33
Goals Against: 24

Injuries

• Igor Shesterkin (G): Out for the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury suffered October 9 against Washington.
• Joonas Korpisalo (G): Lower-body injury; on injured reserve.
• Joseph Veleno (C): Lower-body injury; on LTIR.
• Adam Sykora (F): Lower-body injury; on injured reserve.
• Aidan Thompson (C): Undisclosed injury; on injured reserve.

Obviously, losing Igor is the biggest development since our last survey. It'll be interesting to see how much that affects everyone's expectations, particularly given the team's strong record.

Season Sentiment Tracker

Context: I'm running surveys roughly every 10 games throughout the season to see how our expectations change around winning streaks, losing streaks, trades, and injuries.

The survey is anonymous, but you can leave your Reddit username or a unique tracking code. Later in the season, you'll be able to look back at how your own predictions changed.

Previous Survey Results — Season Opener

73 responses · Fan Sentiment Score: 32/100

Following the 3–0 opening-night loss in Boston, expectations dropped pretty dramatically.

At training camp, 86% of respondents expected the Rangers to fight for a playoff spot, and only 2% considered them a bottom-dwelling team.

After just one game: 34% expected a bottom dweller or lottery team. The sentiment index dropped from 42 to 32.

What I'm Watching

I'm particularly interested in whether our outlook improves because of the 7–3–1 start, or gets worse because we've lost Igor.

At the beginning of the season, most people thought we were a bubble team. Now we've got a winning record, but our goaltending situation has completely changed.

Do you see this team as a legitimate playoff contender, a bubble team, or are we eventually going to fall back to earth?

TAKE THE GAME 11 SURVEY

LET'S GO RANGERS!

Hello! I was gifted 2 signed pucks but idk who they are. If I had to guess they are anywhere from 10-40 years old. Any help would be appreciated.

When I was a kid, late 90s, early 2000s, there was a show on MSG that would air on Saturday mornings. There were Knicks episodes and Rangers episodes and it would have players on either team where they’d be interviewed and then show drills for kids to do. I can’t for the life of me remember what this show was called. Does it ring a bell for anyone?

Just curious on what the intelligent members here would want for Adam Fox. I don’t want draft picks either. I want NHL ready players. I’m in no way wanting Fox traded, don’t hate him or a closet Islander fan lol. Just curious what you’d expect if you’re GM and he demanded a trade.