The next check for the Rangers’ excellent dwelling report — the next risk to play spoiler to a begin nearing the level of being a historic one — will contain a pair of Garden returns.
Former head coach Peter Laviolette, who led the Rangers to the Presidents’ Trophy and the Eastern Conference finals in 2023-24 before getting fired one 12 months later, is 9 video games into his first season as head coach of the Kings and will return to the Garden for the first time since his exit. And Artemi Panarin, the star who was dealt last 12 months before the Olympic roster freeze and made his return in March, will play his second recreation back at the Garden as a member of the Kings.
Laviolette’s 114-point marketing campaign with the Blueshirts was adopted up by an 85-point one, and the Rangers missed the playoffs in 2024-25. He helped them set data for factors and wins (55) during that first 12 months, bringing the franchise to the cusp of a return to the sport’s final stage — while turning into the first coach in NHL historical past to information six completely different groups to the playoffs — before a collapse adopted the next season.
But in the offseason, the Kings reunited Laviolette with Panarin, who had his greatest particular person season under the coach in 2023-24 with 120 factors (49 objectives, 71 assists). When Panarin was dealt to Los Angeles last 12 months in change for Liam Greentree and a third-round decide, he left Broadway in ninth place all time for most factors by a Ranger (607), eighth all time for most assists (401) and first for points-per-game (1.26).
Artemi Panarin (10) of the Los Angeles Kings skates during the second interval of a recreation against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. NHLI via Getty Images
The Kings struggled to begin the season and have collected just two wins, but in an additional time win against the Islanders last week, Panarin scored a pair of objectives and is already up to six objectives and 9 factors. In a method, that’ll flip Monday into a reminder of what could’ve been for the Rangers if they didn’t fall to the Panthers in the 2024 convention finals — and if their longtime core didn’t take a main step back the following season.
The Rangers have already won six video games at the Garden while managing just one victory and three factors on the street, and they entered play Sunday with the most objectives per recreation (4.83) and the second-most complete objectives (29) at dwelling this season. With a win, the Rangers will open a season with seven consecutive dwelling wins for the first time since an eight-game streak in 1990-91.
The Kings — now led by Laviolette and Panarin — will check that and have a likelihood to finish that run.
“We’re trying to build a team game that sets the group up for success regardless of where we play it,” head coach Mike Sullivan said Sunday of the Rangers’ dwelling success and street struggles, “and we’re trying to dictate the terms of how we play the game every single night — regardless of which rink we play it in. And so it’s not like we have a game plan for home and a game plan for the road.”
Head coach Peter Laviolette of the Los Angeles Kings seems to be on against the Florida Panthers during the first interval of an NHL hockey recreation at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. Getty Images
“And so obviously our guys have played extremely well at home, and we’ve had some success, which is great, and we gotta continue to build on that.”
Defenseman Adam Fox will skate in his five hundredth profession recreation Monday. … Mats Zuccarello, who spent elements of 9 seasons with the Rangers from 2010-19, has one help through 5 video games in his first season with the Kings.