Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad left confused by NY’s home struggles

The New York Rangers dropped to 2-3-0 on the year. In the process, the Rangers made NHL history for a brutal reason, as they continue to fail to score at home. Now, Mika Zibanejad has spoken about the home struggles.

“I don’t know if I should laugh or cry,” Zibanejad told the media after the game, according to Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic.

The Rangers became the first team in history to be shut out in each of their first three home games to start a new campaign. The Blueshirts lost on opening night to the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0, before falling 1-0 to the Washington Capitals on Sunday. On Tuesday night, they hosted the Edmonton Oilers.

The team had numerous opportunities to score in the game. According to Natural Stat Trick, the team produced 14 high-danger scoring chances, which were over 80 percent of the total high-danger chances in the game. Stuart Skinner stopped all 30 shots he faced for the Oilers.

Not only is this the third straight game at home without a goal, but, in contrast, the Rangers have scored well away from home. They have already scored ten goals in the two road games. Further, the team has created more high-danger opportunities and dominated the shots department in the last two home games. At some point, goals will come.

“I do believe that the offense will come. If we weren’t generating scoring chances, it would be a different conversation, but we believe we are based on everything we’re watching and tracking,” noted head coach Mike Sullivan.

“It’s not sustainable that the puck’s not going to go in the net if we continue to generate the type of looks that we generated. If we combine our stinginess defensively and our willingness to do the little things that make us harder to play against, and we continue to generate the looks that we have, we believe that this group will pull itself out of it.”

The Rangers will hit the ice again on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road. They get a chance to score at home next on October 20 against the Minnesota Wild.