Photo via New York Post

Rangers’ hot start will have to go through familiar tormentor

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Crane, A. (2026, October 15). Rangers’ hot start will have to go through familiar tormentor. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/14/sports/rangers-hot-start-will-have-to-go-through-familiar-tormentor/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-15 · by Andrew Crane

Quick Summary

The New York Rangers face the New Jersey Devils in an important game as part of their early-season series against familiar rivals. The Rangers have won five consecutive home games and currently sit second in the Eastern Conference with 12 points. However, they struggle against Jack Hughes, who has collected 35 points in 26 regular-season games against them. Coach Mike Sullivan emphasized the need to contain Hughes's speed and puck-handling ability during practice Wednesday.
Written by AI on 2026-10-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 15, 2026, the New York Rangers faced off against their rivals, the New Jersey Devils, in the first matchup of the Battle of the Hudson. Despite initial promise and strong play by rookie goaltender Dylan Garand early in the season, the Rangers suffered a crushing 7-1 loss as Garand was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots within less than five minutes into the second period. The Devils capitalized on errors, with key players like Evan Rodrigues scoring crucial goals to extend their lead. Head coach Mike Sullivan and teammates expressed confidence in Garand's ability to bounce back from this setback, emphasizing that Thursday’s performance was not reflective of the team's potential.

Written for “Rangers Vs Devils Match-Up” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Rangers Vs Devils Match-Up
Sports · 7 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
Hedges 0 of 17 claims Outlet record 66/100
New York Post
Hedges 2 of 29 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A describes an upcoming game between Rangers and Devils on Thursday, while Article B discusses the actual outcome of a recent game (7-1 loss) against the Devils.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 10 claims Outlet record 64/100
“Article A describes an upcoming game between Rangers and Devils, while Article B reports on the actual game that occurred after the preview in Article A.”
New York Post
Hedges 0 of 8 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses the upcoming game between the Rangers and Devils on Thursday, while Article B reports on a past game where Dylan Garand was pulled from play due to poor performance against the Devils.”
New York Post
Hedges 1 of 22 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles refer to different games in an ongoing series between the Rangers and their opponents. ARTICLE A mentions a future game on Thursday, while ARTICLE B describes a loss to the Devils that occurred after ARTICLE A's reference date.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
17
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
7
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 15824 article(s) · 35 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 35 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Andrew Crane
66 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 If it’s a post-up game or something like that, OK, maybe, I don’t know.
🔮 They didn’t find “that gear” — the one they needed to overpower opponents, the one that defined their sprint through May and June — until the fourth quarter.
🔮 “What I would say is when we’re going through the process, the process is so thorough that — or our process I feel like is thorough — that it may not be for today,” Schoen said of what changed.
🔮 McCarthy said his tradition will continue for the rest of his career, though it’s “strictly” reserved for Stroud, maybe Dolphins backup Kyle McCord and then Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day if he ever “comes up to the NFL.”
🔮 The next test for the Rangers’ perfect home record — the next possibility to play spoiler to a start nearing the point of being a historic one — will involve a pair of Garden returns.
🔮 For the second consecutive year, James Reimer turned a PTO into an NHL deal — and this one will help the Rangers’ goaltending puzzle.
🔮 Packers running back Josh Jacobs, who spent the first six weeks of the season on the commissioner’s exempt list following his arrest for an altercation with his then-girlfriend, was activated by Green Bay on Saturday and is expected to start Week 7 against the Lions, according to ESPN.
🔮 In the final year of his ESPN contract, and with reports swirling about tension with broadcast partner Joe Buck, Troy Aikman knows that he could be staring down change.
🔮 During Friday’s “First Take,” Dan Orlovsky said he thinks Manning — who could get benched soon after the Longhorns gave their backup more reps in practice — should skip declaring for the draft this year and spend another season elsewhere at the college level.
🔮 Mesa, who stole nine bases during the regular season and had added another two in the postseason, was thrown out while attempting to steal third during the fifth inning while trailing 2-1, with William Contreras catching Mesa after he left second base on an 0-2 pitch with leadoff hitter Yandy Díaz at the plate.
Also by Andrew Crane
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 66 articles by Andrew Crane →

Topics

Blueshirts Devils Islanders Rangers Team USA

Subjects

Rangers ORG · 11× Devils ORG · 3× Dorofeyev PERSON · 3× Hughes PERSON · 3× Blueshirts ORG · 2× Team USA ORG · 2× Islanders ORG · 1× Jack Hughes PERSON · 1× Mollie Walker PERSON · 1× Post Sports+ for ORG · 1×

Narrative

The Rangers’ quest to unlock Pavel Dorofeyev — whom they acquired on draft night from the Golden Knights and then signed to a $77 million deal — continued in practice Wednesday, when they moved him to the bumper spot on the first power-play unit and shifted Alexis Lafrenière to the flank opposite Mika Zibanejad.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15
🔮 In an eight-game stretch filled with revenge and fixing wrongs to start the season, Thursday will mark another chance for the Rangers.
2026-10-15 · New York Post
Rangers’ hot start will have to go through familiar tormentor · assertive framing

Claims (17 extracted, 0 hedged)

In an eight-game stretch filled with revenge and fixing wrongs to start the season, Thursday will mark another chance for the Rangers. asserted
Thursday → fill → Rangers
They already won at home, stringing together five consecutive victories at the Garden after a miserable campaign there last year. asserted
They → win → campaign
They started to shift the Battle of New York after getting swept in 2024-25 with a commanding victory against the Islanders. asserted
They → start → Islanders
And Thursday, after dropping two of three games to the Devils last year and consistently getting tormented by superstar Jack Hughes, the Blueshirts will have a chance to take the first game of this year’s edition of the Battle of the Hudson. asserted
Blueshirts → drop → Hudson
tRY IT NOW“His speed, his puck-handling ability, his playmaking ability — he’s a guy that plays in motion a lot,” head coach Mike Sullivan, who coached Hughes with Team USA and called him “dynamic,” said after practice Wednesday. asserted
who → try → practice
“If Jack has the ability to play three-quarters of the ice, he’s really dangerous, and so I think we’ve gotta do our best to force him to play goal line to goal line and have to go through numbers to get through the scoring area because he’s a unique player in how he plays the game.” asserted
he → have → game
Hughes, who was selected No. 1 overall in 2019 one pick before the Rangers selected Kaapo Kakko, has collected 35 points in 26 regular-season games against the Blueshirts. asserted
Rangers → select → Blueshirts
Since the Rangers’ struggles began following their run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2024, the Devils have trolled them, too, on social media — including in December 2024, when they wrote, “Safe travels across the Hudson” with a GIF of a dumpster on fire following a 5-0 victory. asserted
they → begin → victory
The outlook, even just two weeks into the season, has started to look different, though. asserted
outlook → start → season
The Rangers sat in second in the Eastern Conference with 12 points entering play Wednesday. asserted
Rangers → sit → play
But they still have Hughes, who already has eight points — including two goals — in six games and who emerged as the Olympic hero with his game-winning goal against Canada to help Team USA take gold in Milan. asserted
USA → have → Milan
And in order for the Rangers to temporarily take their place atop the New York City-area hockey hierarchy, they’ll need to reverse their struggles with containing him that have spanned seasons and coaching staffs. asserted
that → take → seasons
The Rangers’ quest to unlock Pavel Dorofeyev — whom they acquired on draft night from the Golden Knights and then signed to a $77 million deal — continued in practice Wednesday, when they moved him to the bumper spot on the first power-play unit and shifted Alexis Lafrenière to the flank opposite Mika Zibanejad. asserted
they → unlock → Zibanejad
Dorofeyev, who scored 72 goals the last two seasons and had 20 with the man advantage last year, managed just one tally through the Rangers’ first eight games. asserted
who → score → games
“The question that I’m trying to answer, and this is the discussion the coaching staff had is, how do we maximize [Dorofeyev’s] greatest attribute, which is his scoring ability,” Sullivan said, while reiterating that he still believes Dorofeyev will score goals for the Rangers. asserted
Dorofeyev → try → Rangers
The Rangers recalled Justin Dowling to serve as their center on the fourth line and assigned 20-year-old Cole Beaudoin to AHL Hartford. asserted
Rangers → recall → Hartford
Beaudoin logged just 3:29 of ice time Tuesday and he’ll get a chance to log more minutes near the top of the lineup with the Wolf Pack. asserted
he → log → Pack
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support