Rangers vs. Bruins: Absolute Utter Trash, Again
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
- Last year, I remember a game from mid-December where New York Rangers took on the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden. My game notes for that contest were titled "Absolute Utter Trash" and went on to quote Ellen Ripley from Aliens as an approximation of my sentiments about those Rangers:
- Welp. Here we are again. Amazingly enough, that game against the Kings from last year ended only 5-1! This was literally twice as bad.
- For a fleeting second there, you could be forgiven for thinking it might have been a fun day of hockey. Only 1:24 into the game Mika Zibanejad, who as Jake DiBlasio noted in his mid-season awards piece has been the most improved New York Ranger, made it 1-0 Rangers. Fun, right? We were off to a fun start!
- And then the wheels came off. Only a few minutes later it was tied. A few minutes after that, Boston took the lead for good. And then our own Chris Feldman gave us some unintentionally dark comedy:
3-1 lmao
— Chris Feldman (@Almost_August) January 10, 2026
- That has to be one of the more bizarre sequences I've seen in a hockey game in quite a while. Whoever made the crack that the Rangers are so bad they're now giving up goals at the intermission, good work there.
- I understand if you think that I'm deflecting here in moving into a gripe about officiating and the video review system. But consider for a minute that the alternative is continuing to talk about the 2025-26 New York Rangers, so extend me some grace here.
- I don't understand how that review and that ruling doesn't happen quicker. And I don't understand how it doesn't happen with some quick communication to the on-ice officials that they're reviewing a possible goal. It was close enough on first blush that you could imagine the puck and completely crossed the goal line. But either way, it's on the officials to not let both teams exit for the dressing rooms until it's clear. The Rangers are already doing enough to embarrass themselves. They don't need any help.
- And, starting with the puck drop for the second period, they really didn't need any help embarrassing themselves. This was the first time since 2009 the New York Rangers have surrendered 10 goals in a game, which is a remarkable stat when you remember just how bad this team was last year and somehow not even that team got clowned this bad.
