Why Rangers winning formula on road carried over to start of 2024-25 season
The New York Rangers begin a four-game road trip Sunday, and it may be exactly what they need. They’ve won five of their six games away from Madison Square Garden this season. This isn’t anything new for the Blueshirts. In the three seasons prior to this one, only the Boston Bruins have more points in road games than the Rangers.
So what has made the Rangers so successful on the road in recent seasons?
Like with most of their success in recent years, it starts with the goaltending. Igor Shesterkin has a .921 save percentage on the road in the past three seasons, per Natural Stat Trick. While a small sample size, Shesterkin has saved a whopping .948 of shots in away games this season. Jonathan Quick has won both of his road starts in 2024-25, including a 4-0 shutout against the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 9, and was excellent away from home last season, posting a .914 save percentage.
Another hallmark of the Rangers play in this era has been a solid power play. That has buoyed their performance when traveling. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, the Blueshirts boast the League’s best power play on the road. Their 26.4% success rate in that time period comes in higher than the Edmonton Oilers, despite Edmonton having the highest single-season power-play percentage in the 2022-23 campaign. While New York’s PP is still great at MSG — scoring at a 24.2 percent clip over this stretch — that only ranks sixth in the NHL.
Related: Rangers vs. Kraken: 3 things to watch for to begin 4-game road trip
Rangers difference in home and road play more pronounced this season
With the caveat that the sample size is very small, and some of the results are based on their strength of schedule, the Rangers have been better on the road than at home so far in the 2024-25 season. The 5-1-0 record is obviously the highlight, but there is a stark difference between their overall play on home versus on the road.
The underlying numbers are what stand out the most in this split. The Rangers are known around the hockey world for not having the best possession numbers, and that’s continued this season for the most part. However, on the road, they actually have very good possession numbers. Through six road games this season, the Rangers have controlled 56.83 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five. At home, that number is 49.6 percent.
It’s also been notable how Shesterkin has performed at home this season. His save percentage is down to just .894 at MSG, while he’s saving .948 percent of the shots on the road. This is likely nothing more than a fluke over a small set of games –his career save percentage at home is .920. — but it does do a lot to explain why the results have been worse at home.
Those results at home haven’t been so bad. The Rangers still have a 5-3-1 record at The Garden. Things have looked worse than that record at times, as they have allowed six goals in two of those three regulation losses.
Rangers upcoming road trip features mixed bag of opponents
Of the six road games the Rangers have played, only two were against opponents who made the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season. That includes their only away loss to date — Oct. 29 against the Washington Capitals. Four of the wins have been against three of the four worst teams in the Eastern Conference this season — the Red Wings (twice), Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.
Starting on Sunday, New York hits the road for six of its next seven games. Three of the six game are against teams that made the second round of the playoffs last spring. Those games against the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes will be among their toughest road tests yet.
Games against the Seattle Kraken, Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers will make up the remaining three road games this month. These games should be winnable for the Rangers, especially if they are able to keep up the winning formula that they’ve established on the road over the past few seasons and in the early part of this one as well.
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