Rangers look to 'create a feeling' at home after solid road trip

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- The New York Rangers can win on the road.

Their challenge is figuring out how to win at Madison Square Garden too.

"I think we provided a lot of evidence for ourselves [on our road trip] that if we play the game a certain way with the right intentions, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win," coach Mike Sullivan said Monday.

The Rangers traveled last week for a four-game trip and won the last three at the Vancouver Canucks (2-0), Edmonton Oilers (4-3 in overtime) and Seattle Kraken (3-2 in overtime) after a disappointing start (5-1 loss at the Calgary Flames).

They scored first in each of the three wins and even rallied from 3-1 in the third period in Edmonton. In doing so, New York improved its road record to 6-1-1.

But the Rangers were back at their practice facility Monday, preparing to play the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, MSG, SN1). They're 0-4-1 on home ice, the lone point coming in a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks in their last home game on Oct. 23 before the road trip.

They were outscored 9-1 in their first four home games and became the first team in NHL history to be shut out in its first three home games of a season.

"I just think so far it's been a tough start at home, and we need to make it more of a priority to start the game on time," Rangers captain J.T. Miller said. "I think probably three out of the five games at home we definitely haven't started on time. That should be a thing we should be focused on for [Tuesday]. We focused on that after the Calgary game, and it propelled us to have good games. So, I think when we start well, we play well."

To Miller's point, New York has been outscored 5-2 in the first period at home, twice allowing a goal in the last minute before the first intermission. It has scored first in the first period in five of its eight road games, going 5-0-0 in those games.

"It's not like we're trying to put a certain game on the ice at home and then put a different game on the ice on the road," Sullivan said. "Is there a human element associated with playing at home versus playing on the road? There could be a little bit of that. I think the most important thing is just understanding what successful hockey looks like for this group and I think that road trip provided plenty of evidence to suggest that if we play the game a certain way, we're going to set ourselves up for success."

The way, as the Rangers showed in Vancouver, Edmonton and Seattle, is to be defensively sound without sacrificing offense. It's to be quick and assertive in all three zones, to generate more starts in the offensive zone than the opposition. It's to be resilient.

Do that repeatedly, and New York knows it will gain a reputation for outworking its opponents.

That hasn't been the case at home.

"We had lost a couple of games at home and we started to lose our swagger, so to speak," Sullivan said. "I feel like we regained that."

The trip also helped the Rangers get some answers to key questions.

Does it make sense for them to load up the top line with Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Miller even in the absence of Vincent Trocheck, who practiced in a noncontact jersey Monday and hasn't played since Oct. 9 because of an upper-body injury?

For now, the answer is yes, with Zibanejad in the middle because of his speed and how that helps drive the line, Sullivan said.

Sullivan went to that during the game in Edmonton on Thursday, helping ignite the comeback. He stayed with it through the game in Seattle on Saturday and the line will be together when the puck drops Tuesday.

"Our hope is that it will help spark some of those guys offensively and get them going a little bit from a production standpoint," Sullivan said. "They had a lot of looks in the games that we put them together in Edmonton in the third period there and again in Seattle. We'll see where it goes moving forward, but that's some of the reasons."

The line didn't produce, but Miller (six), Panarin (four) and Zibanejad (two) combined for 12 shots on goal and 30 shot attempts in Seattle.

"Getting a lot of [offensive]-zone starts in the last couple games," Miller said. "We're still not producing, as in putting pucks in the net, so we need to bear down on our looks. I think most games we're getting a ton of chances, it's just they're not going in. I think over a short amount of time, it's easy to say just keep going, but at some point you have to flip that to, 'OK, we've got to bear down a little more.' We're not just getting robbed all the time and feel bad for ourselves. We need to bear down and put the puck in the net."

Another question answered on the trip: In Trocheck's absence, can rookie Noah Laba be a reliable No. 2 center if the Rangers keep Miller and Zibanejad together?

"A hundred percent," Sullivan said.

Laba scored and won eight of 12 face-offs in 13:50 of ice time Saturday. His line with forwards Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cuylle had the puck often, generated chances and didn't give up much.

The 22-year-old has impressed with his speed, his tenacity on the puck and ability to keep control of it.

"I mean, one of the things that allowed us to [keep Miller and Zibanejad together] is the traction that we've seen with 'Labs' and his overall game on both sides of the puck," Sullivan said. "He's improving and developing and growing right in front of our eyes with every game that he plays. … If we didn't have a comfort level there, we probably wouldn't do it."

Those are all the positives, but they won't mean much if the Rangers don't start getting some traction at home too.

"You want to make sure you create a feeling at home where it should be a tough building to come into to play against us," Zibanejad said. "We want to create that. … Start with one, and we get a chance [Tuesday]."