As they enter the second quarter of the 2025-26 schedule, with Colorado the second stop on a three-game road swing that concludes in Utah on Saturday, the Rangers still remain unsettled with their lineup.

Most of that has to do with the offense ranking near the bottom of the NHL. They’ve only scored 52 goals over the first 21 games, which helps explain their mediocre 10-9-2 record a week away from Thanksgiving.

Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers in scoring with 19 points. However, he’s only scored five goals. That simply isn’t enough production with the Rangers’ other established stars failing to provide any consistency. Panarin has paced the Blueshirts in goals over the past two seasons, following up a career-high 49 in 2023-24 with 37 in 2024-25. Without any many finishers, he has to pick it up in the department. Especially in a walk year with him unwilling to take less money to re-sign.

Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle have been the constants. Four of Zibanejad’s team-leading seven goals have come on the power play. Half of Cuylle’s six markers are power-play goals, with him continuing to grow accustomed to being the net front presence on the number one unit.

Over the most recent stretch that includes two straight losses, Cuylle has been providing offense. After scoring three times in back-to-back wins over Predators and Lightning a week ago, he’s set up two of the last three goals the Rangers have scored against the Red Wings and Golden Knights. Following a slow start, Cuylle’s up to a dozen points, which ties him with Alexis Lafreniere for fourth in team scoring.

Despite a run of good play, Lafreniere remains an enigma in his sixth season. There are nights where he drives offense and is involved in goals. When Vincent Trocheck returned on Nov. 10, Lafreniere got an immediate boost, posting his first three-point game along with a goal on Nov. 12. Since then, he’s without a point over three with four total shots. He isn’t shooting the puck enough, with only 44 shots-on-goal in 21 games. Then again, only Zibanejad (team-leading 68 SOG) and Panarin (61 SOG) are high volume shooters.

If there’s one complaint about the Rangers, it’s that they don’t take enough shots. This is something that MSG TV analyst Dave Maloney referenced. There have been instances where you can feel Maloney’s frustration through the TV screen. Even with a new voice in Mike Sullivan behind the bench, they still have a tendency to overpass the puck.

It hasn’t helped matters that J.T. Miller continues to fire blanks. Four goals on 47 shots (8.5 percent) isn’t getting it done for the Rangers captain. Another 48 attempts haven’t even made it through. How many times has Miller been set up for a one-timer in the slot and have his shot go wide on the man-advantage? He spoke about how nothing is going in. Hitting the target is a requirement for scoring goals in the league.

With Miller and Zibanejad failing to click, Sullivan’s latest lines look like they were thrown in a blender. Eerily reminiscent of Tom Renney and Gerard Gallant, it’s already getting desperate for the Rangers. Unless you like the idea of throwing names in a hat, which at this point, it might come down to.

Sullivan even made changes on the power play. They had recent success scoring at least one power-play goal in four straight games (11/10-16). One bad game in Vegas has altered the coach’s plans for tonight.

In the 3-2 loss to the Knights on Tuesday, they only failed on one power play. For whatever reason, Sullivan has decided to load up his top unit for tonight’s game against the league best Avalanche. Trocheck rejoins a top unit that features Panarin, Zibanejad, Miller, and Adam Fox.

Cuylle switches to the second unit, which includes Lafreniere, Jonny Brodzinski, Conor Sheary, and rookie Scott Morrow. It appears that he’ll play his second game for the Rangers due to Will Borgen (upper-body) being listed as day-to-day. We’ll see if Morrow can have more of an impact than his Rangers debut when he received less than 10 minutes under David Quinn.

If there’s a question for the coach, what does Sheary provide that Noah Laba doesn’t on a five-on-four situation? I’d love to hear the answer. At least Brodzinski can take the draws.

Adam Edstrom sounds like he’ll return to the lineup following being a healthy scratch the other day. He’ll go back in for Juuso Parssinen, who apparently Sullivan doesn’t seem to have any use for. It really makes one question why Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury found it so urgent to re-sign Parssinen to a two-year deal for $1.25 million AAV. If he isn’t going to play, what was the point?

Drury was also quick to re-sign Urho Vaakanainen, who’s also signed through 2025-26 for a $1.55 million cap hit. He’s fallen out of favor under Sullivan, who seems to prefer the more physical Matthew Robertson (30 hits).

It’s not like Braden Schneider will be coming out of the lineup anytime soon. The more you watch him, he looks like another first round disappointment. I won’t call him a bust because he’s played over 300 games. Schneider just doesn’t do anything particularly well. A restricted free agent next summer, there’s a good chance that he’ll be made available if teams have interest before the trade deadline.

Should we expect anything different against the vaunted Avalanche later tonight? They’ve only lost once in regulation. Led by the league’s leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon and top defenseman Cale Makar, the Avalanche rank first in offense with 4.11 goals-per-game. Contrast that with the Rangers, who average a paltry 2.48 goals-per-game. Most astonishing is that most of Colorado’s success comes at even strength. They lead the league in even strength goals (56).

Their power play is actually ranked 23rd, which is behind the Rangers, who are tied for 20th. I still wouldn’t put the Avs on the power play. They boast potent weapons, with MacKinnon, Makar, and Martin Necas as the headliners. Victor Olofsson is a primary option from the right circle.

Right now, it’s Scott Wedgewood’s net. He’s been playing out of his mind. The former Devils backup is 11-1-2 with a 2.17 goals-against-average, and .917 save percentage. Mackenzie Blackwood started the season on injured reserve. Wedgewood started hot and has continued to play well.

Igor Shesterkin has good numbers despite being 7-7-2. He brings a 2.43 GAA and .911 save percentage into play with a shutout. Considering how fast the Avalanche play, Shesterkin will probably be quite busy.

It would be huge to get two points out of this game. The Avalanche are by far the best opponent the Rangers have faced. They’ll hope to win a league best 10th road game in the high altitude. Colorado is 7-0-2 at home. Both losses were identical 5-4 shootout defeats to the Stars (10/11) and Hurricanes (10/23).

Val Nichushkin is out with a lower-body injury. But Rangers killer Artturi Lehkonen (8-10-18) is healthy. He has seven goals against the Rangers in his career. He scored twice in two meetings last season. MacKinnon is 8-14-22 in 20 games vs. NYR. Makar is 3-8-11 in 10 games vs. NYR. The Rangers have held Necas to just one goal in 18 games, dating back to his days spent with the Hurricanes.

Panarin has 24 points (8-16-24) in 23 career games against the Avalanche. He had a goal and assist in two meetings last season. Zibanejad has been held to 6-3-9 in 22 games vs. COL. Fox is 1-4-5 in 10 games vs. COL. Miller is 8-9-17 in 21 games vs. COL.

Game time is 9 EST on MSG Network.