Not every win for the New York Rangers is going to be pretty, and for the final 20 minutes of last night’s 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken, that was certainly the case. Up 4-0 to start the third thanks to goals from Gabe Perreault, Tye Kartye, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Jaro Chmelar, the Rangers turtled and let Seattle scratch and claw their way back into the hockey game. A win is a win, but turtling is becoming an alarming trend for the 2026-2027 New York Rangers. Seattle may have a 9-6-1 record, but the team feels very mediocre at best and should not have been able to make this a game. This is reminiscent of the Alain Vigneault Rangers, and that’s not a good thing. Joonas Korpisalo was the only thing that kept the Rangers from blowing the game entirely.
Tye Kartye was again the story, as he continues to impress night in and night out. The Kartye Partye was rewarded with some power play time for his early season success, turning that into a powerplay goal. So many of Kartye’s positive impacts occur at even strength, and now the Rangers appear comfortable enough with their diamond in the rough to give him well earned powerplay time.
Kartye’s willingness to battle for loose pucks and an impressive knack for finding soft areas of the ice to put himself in the best positions to score are something to behold. Chris Drury has many priorities this season, and Tye Kartye is pushing to be one of his top priorities.
Joonas Korpisalo returning to action is a big win for the Rangers goalie depth. He isn’t a savior, but this is some delicious irony given how most of the fanbase reacted when the Rangers traded for him. His one blemish last night isn’t even on him, as Seattle had 13 shots in the third period, most quality looks, as Korpisalo did what he could to preserve the win. That’s what the Rangers needed from their goalie, as the team around Korpisalo hung him out to dry and he was still able to keep it under 4 goals. The goal is league average goaltending and hope the skaters do the rest.
And finally, it looks like Pavel Dorofeyev has officially arrived in New York. Dorofeyev looked dangerous every time the puck came to him. His goal last night showed he’s not just capable of freezing goalies with his shot, but in tight as well, going forehand backhand and tucking the puck behind Philipp Grubauer. He needed to get going to give the Rangers the primary goal scoring depth they desperately needed, and it looks like he’s getting off the proverbial schneid. The more he scores and gets closer to the 40 goal mark, the better the Rangers will be.
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