BOSTON — The Winter Classic triumph was supposed to be a springboard for the Rangers.
Instead, it launched the Blueshirts high enough to go KERSPLAT in a subsequent faceplant.
Completely and utterly dismantled in a 10-2 thrashing by the Bruins Saturday afternoon, the Rangers hit a new low on the 2025-26 campaign. The 10 goals they gave up didn’t just set a new season high and mark their largest margin for defeat, but it signaled just how close this Rangers season is to crashing and burning.
This was only their second full game without No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin and No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox.
And yet, the Rangers have just two regulation wins in their last 17 games.
The scoring troubles and inconsistent efforts were already prevalent. Now, without two of their top players, the Rangers were not only exposed in goal, but the defensive structure that has largely improved under first-year coach Mike Sullivan was picked apart by Boston.
Despite a couple of decent performances following the Jan. 2 outdoor victory, the Rangers were steamrolled in their third straight loss.
It had TD Garden blasting Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop [Scoring]” with more than half the third period remaining.
Both Pavel Zacha and Marat Khusnutdinov — who notched a game-high four goals — recorded hat tricks in the Bruins’ victory, while star David Pastrnak posted a six-assist effort to help make it happen. The game was completely out of hand early, which had the Rangers watching as Boston ran up the score.
Two of the Rangers’ stars, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, have been able to connect on a line together over their last few games.
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The rest of the team, however, hasn’t provided the necessary support on either side of the puck.
After Zibanejad one-timed a backhanded feed from Panarin for the 1-0 lead, the Bruins netted the next six goals in a row, including three straight to cap the first period. The one-goal Rangers lead lasted for just 1:07 before Khusnutdinov beat Braden Schneider to tie it up at one-all.
Schneider nearly saved the Bruins’ 3-1 score in the final seconds of the opening frame, but referees called it a good goal after watching the replay.
Captain J.T. Miller, who is still shaking off the rust after missing seven games with an upper-body injury, briefly stopped the onslaught at the 14:04 mark of the middle frame. The power-play goal did nothing for the Rangers’ spirits, which were seemingly lost after goal No. 4.
Goalie Jonathan Quick was pulled and replaced by Spencer Martin after goal No. 6.
The Bruins added three more for good measure in the third period. Stats were padded easily, while the Rangers did little to counterattack.
Echoes of “We want 10!” reverberated around TD Garden as the clock wound down, before the Bruins ultimately broke through for double digits.
