![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2e013366f9b87809f368ede7143ac620.jpeg\"\/)
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An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Rangers left wing Adam Sykora (38) celebrates his first career goal with teammates, Image 2 shows Dylan Garand #33 of the New York Rangers defends the net during the second period when the New York Rangers played the Winnipeg Jets Sunday, March 22, 2026 at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, NY. <\/p>\n
It could have been September.<\/p>\n
The practice ice was filled with smiles, with the aggressive pursuit of pucks, with crisp passes, competition and celebration of untelevised goals.<\/p>\n
Access the Rangers beat like never before <\/p>\n
Join Post Sports+ for exciting\u00a0subscriber-only features, including real-time\u00a0texting with\u00a0Mollie Walker\u00a0about the inside buzz on the Rangers.<\/p>\n
tRY IT NOW <\/a><\/p>\n It could have been confused with a team riding a six-game winning streak, rather than one that just ended a six-game skid. It could have been the team that won the Presidents\u2019 Trophy two years ago, rather than the one whose season will end in just over two weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cHow we handle the situation is a reflection on all of us,\u201d Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said after practice Saturday. \u201cWe want to make sure we bring a certain level of professionalism to what we do and we\u2019re gonna continue to work at that every day. \u2026 I\u2019m gonna do my best as the coach to hold them accountable to that. That\u2019s our challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cI think every day is an opportunity for us to try to move the needle, and that is establishing a level of expectation, trying to live up to a certain standard.\u201d<\/p>\n A crop of Rangers rookies is helping, bringing meaning to an otherwise meaningless final nine regular-season games after sparking a win Friday over the Blackhawks.<\/p>\n Dylan Garand defends the net during the second period of the Rangers\u2019 loss to the Jets on March 22, 2026 at Madison Square Garden. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n Against Chicago, Dylan Garand earned his first career win in net<\/a>. Drew Fortescue<\/a> recorded an assist in his NHL debut. Adam Sykora scored <\/a>in his Madison Square Garden debut. It was the first time since 1932 that three Rangers reached such milestones in the same game, which also featured Jaroslav Chmelar notching his first career assist and defenseman Matthew Robertson scoring his first goal in two months.<\/p>\n \u201c[It] was a pretty cool milestone night for three guys and we kind of need it,\u201d captain J.T. Miller said. \u201cIt\u2019s great. This is such an exciting time for those guys. On top of that, they\u2019re all playing great and making contributions to the game. I\u2019m happy for them. I have very fond memories of my first chance as a Ranger, also. It\u2019s a super exciting time. Obviously, we want to play well for ourselves, but also play well for them so they come into a good environment. We want everyone playing the right way, playing the same way.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to end the season on a strong note. There\u2019s a lot of pride to play for, playing for the crest, a lot of guys playing for jobs. It\u2019s a competitive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n On paper, Sunday\u2019s Garden matinee features two of the league\u2019s most disappointing teams as the Rangers (29-35-9) face the Panthers (35-34-3). The view is different from the ice.<\/p>\n The games we won\u2019t remember are the ones the rookies will never forget.<\/p>\n Adam Sykora scores the first goal of his career during the second period of the Rangers\u2019 6-1 blowout win over the Blackhawks on March 27, 2026 at Madison Square Garden. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cIt brings a level of enthusiasm to the rink every day,\u201d Sullivan said of the rookies\u2019 presence. \u201cThey\u2019re excited to be here. They\u2019re excited about the opportunity they\u2019re given. I think they\u2019re making the most of it. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt that their level of enthusiasm becomes infectious.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are some guys that are getting great opportunities right now. I think our veteran guys have good opportunities to continue to create a standard that we can be proud of. That\u2019s something that\u2019s important to us every single day. Regardless of where you are in the standings, there\u2019s always something to play for. Right now, those are the things that are important to us and we\u2019re gonna do what we can to put our best game on the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Rangers left wing Adam Sykora (38) celebrates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[4506,521,37,9268,3670,5,2685,32916,5788,6883,1955,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36,28524,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-528876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-adam-sykora","9":"tag-blackhawks","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-drew-fortescue","12":"tag-dylan-garand","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-j-t-miller","15":"tag-jaroslav-chmelar","16":"tag-madison-square-garden","17":"tag-matthew-robertson","18":"tag-mike-sullivan","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-rangers","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkrangers","23":"tag-nhl","24":"tag-rangers","25":"tag-robert-sabo","26":"tag-the-rangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116311001940024551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dylan](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7df211ce597ae6d52ad8935f52195475.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Adam](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e9580d080cda8fa8c6e111fda78fa6a9.jpeg\"\/)
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