With the 2024-25 season on the horizon, the New York Rangers games are listed in the preseason and regular season schedule. With some rival and otherwise significant matchups coming up for September and October, here are a few dates to keep in mind for when Autumn comes.
Preseason New York Rangers Games & Rival Matchups
The New York Rangers games will have no shortage of rival matchups in the NHL 2024-25 preseason. It will take place from Sept. 21 to Oct. 5, 2024. During that time, the Blueshirts will twice face their original six rival the Boston Bruins. Close to home, they will play their Big Apple rival, the New York Islanders and their fierce rival across the Hudson River, the New Jersey Devils. They lost to the Devils 4-3 in the series during the 2023 Eastern First Round. In the preseason, they will play all these teams twice. In light of that, we’ve ranked some of the most important New York Rangers game dates to take down for the upcoming preseason and season.
Sunday, September 22 @ 5pm EDT – New York Rangers @ Boston Bruins
Firstly, the Blueshirts will kick off the preseason by playing their first game since the 2024 Eastern Conference Final. They will head up the road to Beantown, Massachusetts to face a rival original six team at TD Garden. Three Blueshirts will be facing their former team against the Bruins; forwards Reilly Smith, Anton Blidh and Riley Nash. The now 35-year-old Ranger Nash’s offensive NHL career peaked in 2017-18 with the Bruins. Nash notched 41 points (15 goals & 26 assists) in 76 games that year. Bruins centreman Vinni Lettieri will also face a former team against the Rangers, having played for them in 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The players to watch for the 22nd are Blueshirts star left-winger Artemi Panarin (“Breadman”) and Bruins star right-winger David “Pasta” Pastrnak. Both wings had similar offensive stats in the 2023-24 regular season. Breadman notched 120 points vs. Pasta with 110. Panarin scored 49 goals and Pasta lit the lamp 47 times. Breadman picked 71 apples (assists) vs. Pasta picking 63. Panarin played in all 82 New York Rangers games that season.
Recap of Last Season
It should be an even matchup between two hot Eastern Conference teams who finished within five points of each other at the end of the 2023-24 regular season. The Blueshirts took the President’s Trophy with 114 points (55-23-4) and the Bruins finished fourth in the east with 109 (47-20-15). Yes, the Blueshirts defeated the Bruins in all three of their 2023-24 regular-season matchups (one overtime win), on the road twice and at home once. However, the 2023 preseason finale for both teams on Oct. 5, 2023 saw the Bruins defeat the Blueshirts at Madison Square Garden 3-1. The Blueshirts face the Bruins again on September 26 at Madison Square Garden as well. Will the Rangers take them on twice in the preseason? Save the date and find out.
Monday, September 30 @ 7pm EDT – New York Rangers @ New Jersey Devils
New York vs. New Jersey, eh? A fierce rivalry to say the least. On September 30, fans at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey will see the Blueshirts play the New Jersey Devils for the first time since April 3, 2024. That was when the famous brawl, or infamous brawl depending on your hockey taste, broke out between all 10 skaters on the ice two seconds after the first puck drop at Madison Square Garden. The fight accumulated a whopping 130 penalty minutes. The highlight was between Blueshirts enforcer Matt Rempe and Devils forward Kurtis MacDermid.
NHL Highlights | Rangers vs. Devils – April 3, 2024 (youtube.com)
The Devils were dominant last year in the New York Rangers games during the 2023 preseason. The first game on September 28, 2023 saw New Jersey win 3-2 at Madison Square Garden. The October 4, 2023 game at the Prudential Center saw a bigger win for the Devils who took it 5-2. That being said, the Blueshirts won all four of their 2023-24 regular-season matchups against the Devils. The first two were at the Prudential Center and the second two were at Madison Square Garden.
But of course, this rivalry goes way back. In the 2023 Eastern First Round, the Devils defeated the Blueshirts 4-3 in the series, despite the Rangers blowing the Devils out in the first two games 5-1 at the Prudential Center. More historically, the Rangers defeated the Devils 30 years ago in the 1994 Eastern Conference Final, also 4-3 in the series. The Blueshirts went on to win the 1994 Stanley Cup. But the Devils won Lord Stanley’s cup the following year.
Regular Season New York Rangers Games & Rival Matchups
Saturday, October 12 @ 7pm EDT – Utah Hockey Club @ New York Rangers
Here’s an exicting one. The first matchup between the Blueshirts and the new Utah Hockey Club, taking place in Manhattan. In two 2023-24 regular-season matchups against them when Utah was still the Arizona Coyotes, the Blueshirts won both games. One took place on October 16, 2023 in New York with the Rangers winning 2-1. The second took place on March 30, 2024 in the Tempe, Arizona desert with the Blueshirts winning 8-5. One player to watch is Utah (and formerly Arizona) star centreman Clayton Keller, who notched 76 points (33 goals & 43 assists) with the Yotes in 78 games during the 2023-24 regular season. Blueshirts who are former Yotes include centreman Riley Nash and goaltender Louis Domingue.
Saturday, October 19 @ 7pm EDT – New York Rangers @ Toronto Maple Leafs
By the time the leaves have changed colour for Autumn, the Blueshirts will head to the home of the Hockey Hall of Fame to face another original six team. They will go against last season’s top goal-scorer Auston Matthews, who scored 69. The Blueshirts’ Panarin was fifth in the 2023-24 regular season with 49 goals. With the game taking place at the 6ix’s Scotiabank Arena, let’s recap these teams’ three matchups last year. On December 12, 2023, the Leafs visited Manhattan and won 7-3 – Matthews scored twice in that game. However, a week later, when the Blueshirts went to the 6ix, New York won 5-2.
Save these dates and more to enjoy a promising-looking 2024-25 New York Rangers season!
Main Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
