TLDR: Artemi Panarin walks back into Madison Square Garden on Monday, October 26, and he walks in wearing the other jersey. The Rangers he left are now playing without their franchise goalie, so there's plenty to watch beyond the reunion.
The Los Angeles Kings end an East Coast trip at Madison Square Garden. It's Artemi Panarin's return to his old building, and the Kings arrive coming off a 3-1 loss in New Jersey after a 2-game win streak. The Rangers are without Igor Shesterkin for the season and Joonas Korpisalo for now, so rookie Dylan Garand is in goal, and they play in Ottawa on Saturday before coming home. No betting lines have been posted yet, so the game comes down to whether LA's offense, which has scored 1 goal in each of its recent losses, can test the Rangers' thin goaltending.
+Monday is the start of a home stretch after a Canadian trip
−Shesterkin out for the season
−Korpisalo on IR, so a rookie is in net
−Plays in Ottawa Saturday, less rest than LA
Los Angeles is closing out an East Coast swing. Its last stop went badly: a 3-1 loss at Prudential Center that was tied 1-1 after 2 periods before New Jersey scored twice in the 3rd. That was the Kings' 3rd game in 5 days, and the legs looked like it. Before the Devils, LA had won 2 straight, and the second was a 3-2 overtime win at UBS Arena over the Islanders. Panarin scored in that one, his second straight game with a goal. The Kings get Sunday off and are already in the New York area, which is about as gentle a road schedule as a West Coast team gets out here.
The Rangers' biggest story is in net. On October 10 the club announced Igor Shesterkin will miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury. Backup Joonas Korpisalo was already on injured reserve as of October 1, so rookie Dylan Garand, called up from Hartford, has had to carry the crease. Joe Veleno is also on long-term IR. The front office has been patching the bottom of the forward group too, signing Luke Glendening to a 1-year deal after his tryout. A season without Shesterkin is a different season, and the Rangers are a few weeks into finding out what that looks like.
New York also has a game to play before this one. The Rangers visit Ottawa on Saturday, October 24, after a stop in Toronto on October 22, so they come home from a 2-game Canadian road trip with 1 day of rest. Whatever happens in Ottawa, including who starts in goal and how much the defense has to play, shapes what the Rangers look like on Monday. That's also why it's too early for a read on this game.
LA's problem has been scoring. Its losses in this stretch have come 4-1 in Boston, 2-1 at home against Florida in the home opener and 3-1 in New Jersey, and 1 goal a night won't beat anyone. Injuries haven't helped. Quinton Byfield left a win over Washington after 4 shifts, and Kevin Fiala still hasn't played since hurting his leg at the Winter Olympics in February. That leaves Panarin as the Kings' best bet for offense on a team that hasn't had much of it.
That's the matchup at 7:00 PM ET. A Kings team that can't score much faces a Rangers team trying to keep a rookie goalie upright. If Garand gets bombarded, LA's scoring slump probably ends in a building Panarin knows well. If he holds up, it's another tight, low-scoring game, which is the only kind of game the Kings have played lately.
Kings vs. Rangers: Polymarket Odds & Prediction (Oct. 26) — Panarin Brings the Kings Back to the Garden to Face a Rangers Crease in Crisis
