Rangers at Penguins: Pregame Notes

RANGERS RUNDOWN

The New York Rangers are set to face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second time this season and first at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday (7:00 PM ET - TV: MSG Network - Radio: ESPN 880 AM).

Saturday’s game against the Penguins marks the first of 12 back-to-back sets this season.

Against the Penguins since 2021-22, the Blueshirts are 10-5-1 in 16 regular season games and have victories in three of their last five games against Pittsburgh.

The Blueshirts have four-straight victories on the road against the Penguins.

Igor Shesterkin has 22 career shutouts, the eight most in franchise history. His 22 shutouts since 2020-21 are tied for the second most among NHL goaltenders.

The Rangers have started the season 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, including 4-for-4 against Buffalo. On the road, since 2023-24, the Blueshirts have the third best PK% in the league (82.1).

J.T. Miller has a team-leading 13 multi-point games since his first game back with the team on Feb. 1, 2025 (34 games). In that same time frame, his 13 multi-point games are tied for the second most in the NHL.

Artemi Panarin ranks fifth in the NHL in road points since 2021-22 with 198.

Following the first two games of the seasons, New York ranks third in the NHL in hits (62) and blocked shots (33), and is tied for third in takeaways (9).

RANGERS AND PENGUINS CONNECTIONS

Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan was the Penguins’ head coach from Dec. 2015 – Apr. 2025. Sullivan was elevated from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL to be Pittsburgh’s head coach in December of 2015 and went on to lead the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 and 2017. Sullivan’s 409 wins with Pittsburgh make him the Penguins all-time wins leader.

Rangers assistant coach David Quinn was an assistant coach under Sullivan in Pittsburgh during the 2024-25 campaign.

Rangers assistant coach Ty Hennes was a member of the Penguins staff in various roles from 2018-19 to 2024-25.

Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck is a native of Pittsburgh, growing up in Upper St. Clair. He and J.T. Miller played for the Pittsburgh Hornets youth team growing up.

Rangers forward Conor Sheary spent parts of four seasons with the Penguins and won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the team in 2017 and 2018.

Penguins head coach Dan Muse served as an assistant coach for the Rangers from 2023-24 - 2024-25.

Penguins forward Kevin Hayes spent the first five seasons of his career in New York, tallying 216 points (87G-129A) in 361 games.

TEAM NOTES

ROAD RANGERS

Since the 2021-22 season, on the road, the Rangers rank second in the NHL in points (208) and tied for second in wins (95). In that same time span, the Rangers are 95-52-18 on the road.

MILLER TIME

J.T. Miller was named the 29th captain in franchise history on Sept. 16, 2025.

In 2024-25, among all NHL players who took 1,000 or more faceoffs in 2024-25, he tied for third in faceoff percentage (58.2) and reached his second highest faceoff percentage in a season since the start of his career.

Since Miller’s Rangers debut on Feb. 1, 2025, he ranks first in assists (23), and second in goals (14) and points (37). His 81 hits rank third on the team since his acquisition.

He is the only player in the NHL since the 2021-22 season to have recorded 300 or more points, as well as 700 or more hits. In that same time frame, he is one of 18 skaters to have three or more 50-plus assist seasons, and his 356 points are ranked 12th most in the NHL.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX

This season, Adam Fox will be raising money towards the Tackle ALS organization to help the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital develop therapies that repair or reverse damage caused by ALS and ultimately prevent the disease entirely. For every goal he scores, he will be donating $1,023 to Tackle ALS and for every assist, he will be donating $523. So far this season, Fox has donated $1,023 (1G) to the cause. Fox welcomes all Rangers fans to join him in supporting the cause. For more information about Tackle ALS and how you can help, including making a donation, please visit https://tackleals.com/.

Fox became the ninth different defenseman in NHL history to record four consecutive 50-assist seasons in 2024-25 and became one of eight defensemen in Rangers history to record four or more seasons with 10 or more goals.

His 51 assists last season ranked second among the Blueshirts and tied for sixth among NHL defensemen. His four three-point games tied for third and his 17 multi-point games tied for eighth among NHL blueliners.

He notched his 300th career assist on Mar. 20 vs. TOR and became the fourth defenseman in Rangers history to reach the milestone.

BREAD WINNER

Artemi Panarin secured his fifth 80-point season with New York in 2024-25, tying Mark Messier for the most in team history, and his fifth 50-assist season, surpassing Messier and Rod Gilbert for the second most in franchise history.

He is the only active undrafted player with 300 career goals.

He notched his fifth career 30-goal season, and second consecutive during the 2024-25 season. He is the first Ranger since Jaromir Jagr (2005-07) with 30-plus goals and 40-plus assists in back-to-back seasons. His 30-goal seasons are tied for 11th in the NHL since 2015-16.

Since 2023-24, his 210 points (86G-124A) rank sixth in the NHL. In that same time frame, he has points in 125 of 164 games, the third most in the NHL.

Going back further, among NHL skaters since his debut in 2015-16, he ranks fourth in assists (569) and fifth in points (871).

Last season, Panarin ranked first in goals (37), assists (52), points (89), power play goals (8), power play points (25) and shots (235) among Rangers skaters, and had at least one point in 57 of his 79 games (72.2%).

FORECHECK, BACKCHECK, TROCHECK

In 2024-25, Vincent Trocheck led the NHL in faceoff percentage (59.3) and his 910 overall faceoff wins ranked third in the league among skaters who’ve taken 1,000 or more faceoffs.

Since 1997-98, his 910 faceoff wins were ranked third most among Rangers skaters for a single season since 1997-98. He became the first Ranger to take at least 13 faceoffs in a game and win every single one of them since the NHL began tracking.

Trocheck’s six shorthanded goals last season tied for the second most in a single season by a Ranger in history (tied with Cecil Dillon, Theo Fleury leads with seven) and shared the league lead for the most among all NHL skaters.

Last season, he notched his seventh 20-goal season of his career and ranked second in goals (25), fifth in assists (33) and fifth in points (58) on the Blueshirts. His 200 shots were the second most on the team.

TOO COOL

Will Cuylle’s 311 hits since 2024-25 ranks second in the NHL. Last season, he surpassed Ryan Callahan (285) for the most hits among Rangers in a single season since the NHL began tracking in 2005-06.