Pregame Notes: Rangers at Wild

RANGERS RUNDOWN

• The New York Rangers head back on the road for a matchup against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday night (8:00 PM ET - TV: MSG Network - Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM).
• The Blueshirts have won six games in a row, the league’s longest active win streak. Last season, the team posted two wins streaks of seven games. New York has the third most wins (8) and points (16) in the NHL.
• The Rangers are 8-2-0 (16 points), marking their second-best 10-game start to a season in franchise history. The only other campaign with as many wins through this stage of the season was 1983-84 (9-1-0, 18 points).
• New York has won five games in a row on the road and will look to push its road win streak to six games for an eighth time in franchise history. The last time the team posted a road win streak of six or more games was the franchise record nine-game road streak in 2020.
• The Rangers have five players that are natives of Minnesota: K’Andre Miller (St. Paul/Minnetonka HS), Blake Wheeler (Plymouth/Breck), Ryan Lindgren (Burnsville/Shattuck St. Mary’s), Jonny Brodzinski (Ham Lake/Blaine), and Tyler Pitlick (Minneapolis/Centennial HS). Associate Head Coach Phil Housley is from St. Paul and went to South St. Paul High School.
• Since 2015-16, the Blueshirts’ 61 wins in November are tied for second in the NHL behind Toronto’s 65.
• The Rangers have the NHL’s third best power play percentage (32.4) and have scored power play goals in nine of their first 10 games. The Rangers’ 12 power play goals are tied for the second most in the league.
• The Rangers have been over 50 percent in the faceoff circle in eight of 10 games. Their 54.2 faceoff percentage ranks fourth in the NHL.
• The Blueshirts have allowed one or fewer goals in a league-high six games this season. The team has the second fewest GA/GP (1.90) in the NHL and second fewest shots per game in the NHL (26.3).
• The Rangers’ defensemen have recorded 28 points, the fifth most in the NHL, and eight goals are tied for the league- lead. 33.7 percent of all points recorded this season have come from defensemen, the highest mark in the NHL.
• When scoring first, the Rangers are a league-best 6-0-0.

RANGERS AND WILD CONNECTIONS

• Mats Zuccarello played parts of nine seasons with the Rangers (2010-11 – 2018-19), recording 352 points (113G-239A) in 509 games with the team.
• Nick Bonino played for the Wild during the 2020-21 season, recording 26 points (10G-16A) in 55 games.
• Marc-Andre Fleury and Nick Bonino were teammates on the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning two Stanley Cup championships together. Wild general manager Bill Guerin was the assistant GM of the 2016, 2017 Penguins.
• Vinni Lettieri played his first two seasons with the Rangers from 2017-18 – 2018-19.

ROAD RANGERS

The Rangers return to the road after their latest trip ended with a 5-0-0 mark, the first time in franchise history they had swept a road trip of five or more games. New York has been one of the best road teams in the NHL this season and proven it through several categories.

KREIDING HIGH

Chris Kreider needs one goal to surpass Andy Bathgate for the fourth most goals in team history (272). He has opened the season with seven goals in his first 10 games, including a league leading five power play goals.

Kreider sits three power play goals away from becoming the fifth player in franchise history to reach 100 PPGs.

His eight shorthanded goals since 2021-22 are the most in the NHL while his 39 power play goals in that span are the second most.

PANARIN PLAYS IN 600TH CAREER GAME

Artemi Panarin is riding a season-opening point streak of 10 games, the longest by a Rangers player since Darren Turcotte recorded an 11-game run in 1990-91. It is tied for the third longest streak to start a season by a Ranger.

At any point of the season, the 10 game streak is the third longest of Panarin’s career. This is Panarin’s third career point streak of 10 or more games and becomes the sixth player in franchise history with at least three double-digit point streaks, joining Rod Gilbert (8x), Mark Messier (4x), Brian Leetch (4x), Mike Rogers (3x) and Jean Ratelle (3x).

On Thursday night, Panarin played in his 600th career NHL game. Since his first season in 2015-16, Panarin ranks second in assists (456) and fourth in points (677). Panarin is the 44th player in NHL history to have 677 or more points through their first 600 games.

Panarin has a team-leading 16 points (5G-11A) in his first nine games of the season, including five multi-point games. Panarin’s 11 assists are tied for the fourth most in the NHL and his 16 points are tied for the third most.

According to NHL Edge, Panarin has spent the fourth highest percentage of offensive zone time (50.6%) of any skater in the NHL.

SHESTY’S SAVES

Igor Shesterkin has a 6-2-0 record, his six wins tied for the most in the NHL. Since the 2021-22 season, Igor Shesterkin leads the NHL with 79 wins, ranks tied for first in save percentage (.924) and first in GAA (2.29).

The goaltender has allowed one or fewer goals in four games thus far. His 41 games with allowing one or fewer goals since 2021-22 are tied for the most in the NHL. Thursday marked the 53rd regular-season game in which Shesterkin has allowed one goal or fewer. He is one of six goaltenders with 50 or more such performances since his debut season in 2019-20.

SLAP SHOTS

• Jacob Trouba’s 36 blocked shots are tied for the most in the NHL. Nick Bonino ranks tied for fifth with 31 blocked shots. Since 2021-22, Bonino leads all forwards in blocked shots with 212.
• Will Cuylle ranks first among rookies in hits with 25.
• Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafrenière and Filip Chytil have each recorded a point in the same regular-season game on 24 occasions. The Rangers hold a record of 22-0-2 in such contests.
• Among NHL skaters with 100 or more faceoffs, Vincent Trocheck ranks third in faceoff percentage (62.7).
• Jonathan Quick has wins in his first two starts, including a shutout on Oct. 26 at EDM. This is the third time in his career that Quick has won his first two starts of a season while allowing one or fewer goals in each (2023-24, 2017-18, 2010-11). Quick is the seventh goaltender in franchise history to allow one or fewer goals in each of his first two starts with the club (Last: Antti Raanta - 2015)
• K’Andre Miller leads the Rangers with a plus-7 rating and has points in four of his last six contests (1G-5A).