Rangers vs. Stars: Don't Give Me Hope
An improbable home comeback, a rare 6-on-5 goal, and a bafflingly dominant outing—are the Rangers turning a corner or just teasing us again?
- A win? At home? In last-minute comeback fashion? Over the second-best road team in the NHL? In this economy? Is that allowed?
- Perhaps the most shocking thing about that game was the New York Rangers actually scoring a game-tying goal late in the game with their goalie pulled. Seriously, when is the last time you can remember the puck not immediately ending up in their net when the goalie was pulled?
The last time the Rangers came back trailing in the final minutes with an empty net to force an OT win?
— Broadway Block (@Broadway_Block) December 3, 2025
Glad you asked #NYR pic.twitter.com/VCrl27IPsQ
- Oh. Yeah. That feels like 84 years ago. (Also, man, those jerseys were bad.)
- What's even crazier is, perhaps you could buy the Rangers barely hanging on, finding a way to tie it late, against all odds, in a game where they were consistently outplayed by a (I think everyone would agree) much better Dallas Stars team. But it wasn't even really close. They outshot Dallas 41-26. And the good ole' Deserve to Win O'Meter?
- Can we talk for a minute about Carson Soucy? For all the hate and derision he's received from Rangers fans since he was acquired from Vancouver—and, to be clear, much of it last season was deserved—he's been great this season. Joe and I talked a lot on the podcast about how judging anyone from the defense based on the abject mess of last season was a difficult task. Yes, individual players played individually poorly. But also, Peter Laviolette's defensive system was such a mess, it was hard to know what was systemic failure and people being put in positions where they were more likely to fail than succeed versus individuals just not being good enough. But Soucy has managed to go from borderline unplayable to more than solid this year.
- In fact, it just so happens that I wrote the Season Preview piece for Carson Soucy. And in a season where the Rangers have disappointed beyond expectations, it might be the one I was most off-base on in that I wasn't optimistic enough!
