The NHL and Rangers released their 2019-20 schedule on June 25. With all that was going post-draft, development camp and upcoming free agency, I didn't get a chance to post the schedule analysis blog. i didn't run this the last few seasons, but it's always fun to look at the upcoming season's slate of games.
Rangers Schedule Analysis
As the team's schedule press release noted, the Rangers will reach several franchise milestones during the 2019-20 season. The Blueshirts will play their 6,500th all-time regular season game on Mar. 3, 2020 against St. Louis at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers will also play their 7,000th all-time game (regular season and playoffs combined) on Feb. 3, 2020 against Dallas at Madison Square Garden. The Blueshirts enter the season with 1,994 all-time regular season games played at the current Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1968. The Rangers will play their 2,000th all-time regular season game at the current MSG on Oct. 27, 2019 against Boston.
The Rangers will play a total of 28 games against Metropolitan Division opponents this season, facing the other seven teams in the division four times. New York will play 24 games against the Atlantic Division, facing each of the eight teams three times, playing four teams at home twice and four teams on the road twice. The Blueshirts will play 30 games against Western Conference opponents, facing each of the 15 teams in the Western Conference twice in 2019-20. The Rangers will have 13 back-to-back sets during the 2019-20 season. Only two Eastern Conference teams have fewer back-to-back sets than the Rangers do in 2019-20. The Blueshirts will have four home-and-home sets in 2019-20, all of which take place during the second half of the season. Those contests will be against the Islanders, Red Wings, Flyers and Penguins. In a crazy quirk in the schedule, the Rangers play three of their four games against the Islanders during the 2019-20 season in a nine-day span from Jan. 13, 2020 to Jan. 21, 2020 (Jan. 13 at MSG, Jan. 16 at NY Islanders, and Jan. 21 at MSG).
After opening the season at home - the fourth straight time the team has done so - New York plays three of their next four on the road before closing out October with a five game homestand, the squad's longest stretch of games at MSG during the season. In addition, looking forward to the games in November, the Blueshirts actually have nine of 11 games on home ice. Conversely, from Feb. 11-Feb. 28, New York plays nine of 11 contests away from MSG.
The Rangers will play more home games on a Sunday (eight games) than on any other day of the week during the season with Monday and Tuesday close behind at seven contests each. New York will also six home games on a Wednesday, four home games on a Thursday, five home games on a Friday, and four home games on a Saturday throughout the course of the season. Exhibition games: The Rangers open training camp on September 15 and will play the following six games: 9/18 vs. NJD at MSG, 9/20 at. NJ at MSG, 9/21 at Philly, 9/24 vs. NYI at MSG, 9/26 vs. Flyers at MSG and 9/28 at NYI in Webster Bank Arena. Longest home stand - five games, one time (Oct. 20, 2019 to Oct. 29, 2019 (VAN, AZ, BUF, BOS, TB)), followed by a game on the road against Nashville, which leads to the next two at home, November 4-6 (OTT, DET). That is followed by a road contest against CAR and another pair at home (FLA, PIT).
Longest road trip - four games, two times. Dec. 8-14 (VGK, LA, SJ, ANA) and Dec. 28-January 4 (TOR, EDM, CGY, VAN). In that second four-game road trip of the season, the team will play four consecutive games in Canada for the first time since a stretch from Oct. 18, 2011 to Oct. 24, 2011 (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg).
Heaviest month - November, February and March - 15 games in each. The 15 games in February is the first time New York has had that many in that month since 1955-56. In November, seven of the Blueshirts’ 15 contests are at home. In February, nine of the 15 are on the road while in March, seven of the 15 are at home.
West Coast Trips - December 8-14 (VGK, LA, SJ, ANA) and Dec. 31-Jan. 4 (EDM, CGY, VAN). In addition, March 11 and 14 they play Colorado and Arizona.
Back-to-backs - 13 times. The past two seasons, NY has played 11 back-to-back contests, so their conditioning, which likely won't be an issue under coach David Quinn, will be tested a bit more than last season.
Personal - no games this year on any birthdays - at least in the regular season -, which means no conflicts, always a good thing.
Overall not an easy schedule, with lots of stretches of games at home and also on the road. Seven of the first 10 and 11 of the first 16 contests come at home, which could allow the team to get off to a good start and enable all the new players to settle into the system. But they will pay for it down the road, especially from Feb. 11-Feb. 28, when nine of 11 contests are on the road. All of the Rangers’ first four home games of the season are against Western Conference opponents, while six of their final nine home contests and 11 of their final 22 home contests are against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Mats Zuccarello is in town with Minnesota on Monday Nov. 25 while New York is in Minnesota on Feb. 13. The Rangers are playing in the 2019 NHL Thanksgiving Showdown this season, as they face the Bruins on Friday, Nov. 29, 2019 in Boston. New York takes on the Stanley Cup champion Blues on the road on January 11.
New York, like most of the league, is off on New Year’s Day with the Winter Classic between Nashville and Dallas taking place at Cotton Bowl Stadium. In addition, they are off from January 23-January 26 for the All-Star Game, which is being held in St. Louis. The Rangers have their five-day bye week following the All-Star Game, which means that they will have no games January 22 to January 30. After the All-Star Game, 34 of the team's 82 games will be played starting on January 31 at home against Detroit and ending April 4 at home against Chicago. Of those 34, 16 will be at home. In addition, beginning with their game on Feb. 14, 2020 at Columbus, 13 of the Rangers’ final 26 games in 2019-20 are against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Here is the full schedule:
October: 10 games, 7H, 3A
Date Opponent Time
Oct. 3 Winnipeg 7:00 Oct. 5 at Ottawa 7:00 Oct. 12 Edmonton 1:00 Oct. 17 at Devils 7:00 Oct. 18 at Washington 7:00 Oct. 20 Vancouver 1:00 Oct. 22 Arizona 7:00 Oct. 24 Buffalo 7:00 Oct. 27 Boston 7:00 Oct. 29 Tampa Bay 7:00
************************************************ November: 15 games, 7H, 8A
Nov. 2 at Nashville 2:00 Nov. 4 Ottawa 7:00 Nov. 6 Detroit 8:00 Nov. 7 at Carolina 7:00 Nov. 10 Florida 1:00 Nov. 12 Pittsburgh 7:00 Nov. 14 at Tampa Bay 7:00 Nov. 16 at Florida 7:00 Nov. 20 Washington 8:00 Nov. 22 at Ottawa 7:30 Nov. 23 at Montreal 7:00 Nov. 25 Minnesota 7:00 Nov. 27 Carolina 7:00 Nov. 29 at Boston 1:00 Nov. 30 at Devils 1:00
*********************************************** December: 14 games, 6H, 8A
Dec. 2 Vegas 7:00 Dec. 5 at Columbus 7:00 Dec. 6 Montreal 7:00 Dec. 8 at Vegas 7:00 Dec. 10 at Los Angeles 10:30 Dec. 12 at San Jose 10:30 Dec. 14 at Anaheim 4:00 Dec. 16 Nashville 7:00 Dec. 20 Toronto 7:00 Dec. 22 Anaheim 12:30 Dec. 23 at Philadelphia 7:00 Dec. 27 Carolina 7:00 Dec. 28 at Toronto 7:00 Dec. 31 at Edmonton 9:00
************************************************ January: 10 games, 6H, 4A
Jan. 2 at Calgary 9:00 Jan. 4 at Vancouver 10:00 Jan. 7 Colorado 7:00 Jan. 9 Devils 7:00 Jan. 11 at St. Louis 8:00 Jan. 13 Islanders 7:00 Jan. 16 at Islanders 7:00 Jan. 19 Columbus 7:00 Jan. 21 Islanders 7:00 Jan. 31 Detroit 7:00
************************************************ February: 15 games, 6H, 9A
Feb. 1 at Detroit 7:00 Feb. 3 Dallas 7:00 Feb. 5 Toronto 7:30 Feb. 7 Buffalo 7:00 Feb. 9 Los Angeles 6:00 Feb. 11 at Winnipeg 8:00 Feb. 13 at Minnesota 8:00 Feb. 14 at Columbus 7:00 Feb. 16 Boston 3:30 Feb. 19 at Chicago 8:00 Feb. 21 at Carolina 7:30 Feb. 22 San Jose 7:00 Feb. 25 at Islanders 7:00 Feb. 27 at Montreal 7:00 Feb. 28 at Philadelphia 7:00
************************************************ March: 15 games, 7H, 8A
March 1 Philadelphia 12:00 March 3 St. Louis 7:00 March 5 Washington 7:00 March 7 Devils 7:00 March 10 at Dallas 8:30 March 11 at Colorado 10:00 March 14 at Arizona 9:00 March 16 Calgary 7:00 March 18 Pittsburgh 7:30 March 20 at Pittsburgh 7:00 March 22 at Buffalo 3:00 March 24 Columbus 7:00 March 26 at Washington 7:00 March 28 at Tampa Bay 7:00 March 30 at Florida 7:00
************************************************ April: Three games, 2H, 1A
April 1 Philadelphia 7:30 April 2 at Pittsburgh 7:00 April 4 Chicago 1:00