There’s something special about opening night for the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Blueshirt Faithful bring a jolt of electricity to the World’s Most Famous Arena, and those pregame introductions and festivities always hit the mark. It’s been that way for decades now. And these days there’s even the Blue Carpet entrance for Rangers players arriving hours before game time, too.
So, whether you think the Rangers will be a good team, a not so good team, or somewhere in the middle this season, opening night at The Garden remains very special. So, it will be again Thursday night, when the Rangers play their home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
And you better believe Rangers players and coaches are just as excited as the fans. In fact, the Rangers want so desperately to make a great first impression, they must figure out how not to be over-hyped, if that makes sense.
“It’s really about controlled emotion. We certainly want to bring emotion, I think our game is built on emotion, it’s hard to be at your best in the absence of it. You just have to channel it the right way,” coach Mike Sullivan explained Wednesday. “As long as we have controlled emotion and channel it the right way, we play a purposeful game. i think that gives us the best chance to have success.”
The Rangers had every little success at MSG last season. They won just 14 games on home ice, after starting 0-6-1 in their first seven games there. They lost their first game at home 3-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and were blanked in five of their first seven games at The Garden.
That’d be awfully difficult to replicate this season, nor do the Rangers want to, of course. Plus, Sullivan won’t even discuss the home-ice issues from 2025-26, telling reporters Wednesday that “we’re a forward-thinking group.”
So, to the present we go. The Rangers (0-1-0) opened the regular season Tuesday with a 3-0 shutout loss on the road in Boston against the Bruins. Thanks to Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers had a chance to steal at least one road point, until one too many Blueshirts turnovers finally sunk them late in the third period, when the Bruins scored three times in a span of 1:15.
Major defensive gaffes coupled with an inability to finish their own scoring chances? Heard this one before.
But the page turned quickly to Thursday. The Lightning play their first game of the season, and come into MSG with a veteran lineup that features Nikita Kucherov, the reigning Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP, captain Victor Hedman who’s healthy once again, former Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, and the 2025-26 Vezina Trophy winner as the League’s best goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy.
It’s not going to be easy, but the Rangers did win two of three games against the Lightning last season.
Just like you, Rangers defenseman Adam Fox is looking forward to this one.
“Definitely the atmosphere. It’s been a while for us to play a game at The Garden. I think it’s going to be a lot of energy, a lot of good energy, and I think we’re all excited, for sure.”
New York Rangers projected lineup
Gabe Perreault — Mika Zibanejad — Alexis Lafreniere
Oliver Bjorkstrand — J.T. Miller — Pavel Dorofeyev
Will Cuylle — Noah Laba — Eeli Tolvanen
Tye Kartye — Joe Veleno — Matt Rempe
Valdislav Gavrikov — Adam Fox
Marcus Pettersson — Sean Durzi
Alberts Smits — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Joonas Korpisalo
Rangers vs. Lightning: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
When: Thursday, October 1 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Madison Square Garden
How to watch: MSG
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