For 40 minutes, it looked like a reprieve for the Rangers, the rare night where they could temporarily escape their reality — the cellar of the Eastern Conference — of a lost season, encounter some glimmers of hope and snag a rare home win in regulation.
But in the 2025-26 chapter of the Blueshirts, not even that can go right.
They blew a two-goal lead and then watched as Matvei Michkov scored the winner midway through overtime, falling 3-2 to the Flyers on Thursday night to spoil the returns of defenseman Adam Fox and goaltender Igor Shesterkin from injuries and the returns of J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck from Team USA’s gold medal trip.
The resumption of their season following the Olympic break ended with the Blueshirts opening a four-game homestand on a sour note.
Trevor Zegras tied it just 39 seconds into the third period by ripping a shot by Shesterkin, who, up until that point, looked like his vintage self.
But until it all fell apart, just about everything went right for the Rangers — a rarity this year, especially at home.
They’ve still won just six games at the Garden this season, and they haven’t won at home in regulation since Nov. 24.
The night all started with the returns of Shesterkin and Fox, who returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 5. Trocheck and Miller were honored pregame for their gold medal, along with head coach Mike Sullivan (USA head coach), assistant coach David Quinn (USA assistant) and president and general manager Chris Drury (assistant GM), who was greeted with nothing but boos given the current status of the Rangers team he’s directly responsible for constructing.
Shesterkin looked like his Vezina Trophy-winning self. Fox manned his spot on the power play and nearly scored just minutes into the game.
Fourth-line center Sam Carrick flung a puck from the boards that somehow got past Samuel Ersson for the Blueshirts’ first goal.
Alexis Lafrenière, in the middle of another disappointing season with his name swirling in trade rumors, scored, too.
At the center of it was Shesterkin, because of course he was.
The Rangers’ $92 million goaltender sustained a lower-body injury last month during a noncontact sequence, and they proceeded to go 2-11 without him — with Jonathan Quick struggling as the starter and compiling just a 1-8-0 record with an .853 save percentage.
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On a retooling team whose roster will likely continue to change before the March 6 deadline, Shesterkin remains one of the few constants.
He turned aside shot after shot Thursday, including some tricky rebounds.
Three minutes into the second period, Carl Grundstrom and Jamie Drysdale had chances that Shesterkin saved, and another Flyers shot went wide.
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He later made another save to start a power play, and when Owen Tippett’s shot gave Noah Cates an open lane from the right side, Shesterkin managed to knock the puck away with his glove after recovering to keep his shutout intact until Michkov scored later in the frame, Zegras tied it and Michkov won it with his second.
By the time all those settled behind Shesterkin, the Rangers’ two-goal lead had evaporated.
Carrick netted just his fourth goal of the season and then fought Garnet Hathaway later in the period. Trocheck, Will Cuylle and Lafrenière executed some tic tac toe for the second goal.
The Rangers had a chance to push all of their pressing issues aside for another day, a chance to forget that their roster might look entirely different a week from now when the trade deadline arrives. Instead, they came right back into focus.
