Dennis Schneidler-Imagn ImagesA new-look New York Rangers identity is taking shape, reflecting their impressive start to the season.
Between unstructured play, constant turnovers, and a lack of offensive production, the Rangers have struggled to play a cohesive brand of hockey over the past two years, losing the identity that made them such a successful team during the 2023-24 campaign.
To kick off the 2026-27 season, the Rangers are finally playing a brand of hockey that fans can be proud of and have managed to suddenly shift their entire identity in the process.
After losing the season opener in Boston, the Blueshirts have rattled off three consecutive victories and currently hold a 3-1 record.
All three of the Rangers’ wins followed the same formula: maintain a lead by playing a structured defensive game late in games while relying on goaltending.
The Rangers have given up a combined three goals over their past three games ,and that’s no coincidence.
At heart, the Rangers are a team that is centered around Igor Shesterkin, with the necessary players and structure around him to help elevate the ceiling of the team.
“I think the guys are buying in,” Sullivan said. “When I say their intentions are in the right place, a big part of that is just a commitment to try and work together, play the right way, and when the time comes, they have to block a shot, win a puck battle, stuff like that. I think our guys are certainly committed there. When you look at the makeup of our group, we have an elite goalie in Shesty, and if we build a good team, solid team game in front of him, defend hard, we are going to be in a lot of hockey games.”
In every win so far, the Rangers have had to maintain a lead in the third period. The Ranger teams of the past two years had a track record of squandering leads and allowing many high danger scoring opportunities due to their lack of defensive structure.
However, this new version of the Rangers is completely flipping that narrative on its head. The team’s structured and sound defensive play has allowed them to dictate the pace of the play in the third period of these games.
They are playing a patient game, not trying to force offense, and they've been generating chances through strong defensive play and well-executed breakouts.
“I just like how we’re coming together as a group,” Sullivan said. “It’s a good feeling we have. Won a couple of games. These guys are playing hard. They’re paying the price to win, whether it be blocking shots or winning puck battles, things of that nature. But I’m really excited and couldn’t be more proud of the guys just for the team game that we’re building. Part of that is just the chemistry inside the locker room that continues to grow and evolve.”
A large part of the Rangers’ recent success has to be credited to the mental fortitude of the team.
With all of the noise surrounding the Rangers on top of their recurring issues over the previous two seasons, they became a fragile bunch impacted by the slightest change in momentum, which was clearly evident in their game.
Whatever has changed within the Rangers’ locker room, they appear to be a more cohesive and confident group, which radiates from the energy around the team.
“We’re trying to build a team game, and we talk about that on a regular basis with the guys,” Sullivan said. “Just not getting ahead of ourselves, staying in the moment, having a next play mindset, having a next shift mindset regardless of what happens out there, good or bad. Just the ability to buy things and stay in the moment, and I think a big part of closing games up is your ability to stay in the moment and not get overwhelmed by any of the circumstances around you. It takes a certain focus and discipline.
“You can hear them from the talk on the bench. There’s a lot of energy on the bench right now. Just the team talk around some of the details of how we’re trying to play. I just really like the way the group has come together. We're competing hard. It's not perfect out there by any stretch, but everybody's intentions are in the right place, and just the compete level and playing hard for one another. It's fun to be around.”
Despite implementing quite a few new players to the team’s system in what was a shortened training camp, the Rangers have managed to gel fairly quickly, and their newfound depth is starting to pay dividends.
From a forward perspective, the Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad, and Alexis Lafrenière line are picking up right where they left off at the end of last season. J.T Miller and Pavel Dorofeyev are continuing to build chemistry and are getting the most out of each other offensively, while the Noah Laba and Will Cuylle duo add a whole new dimension to the Rangers’ third line, and take some of the defensive burden off the top-six forward unit.
Defensively, the Rangers have found two consistent and reliable pairings behind Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov with Sean Durzi-Marcus Pettersson and Braden Schneider-Alberts Šmits.
We are just four games into the season, so there’s no need to overreact just yet. However, it’s clear that the Rangers are attempting to learn from their past failures and build a brand new identity better catered toward establishing a winning culture, and so far, we are seeing a drastic change.
“One, it’s fun to win. Two, we got a pretty deep line of efforts from guys on this team who are making it happen,” Durzi said. “You can see a collective buy-in to the systems, to winning, to whatever takes. Whether one guy doesn’t have the best effort — you got guys picking it up at all times and that’s kind of what makes a good team — and it’s what kind of builds a family. So we’re rolling right now, and obviously — just want to continue to roll and get better every day.”
