TAMPA BAY, Fla. — The Rangers capped the 2025-26 season with a 4-2 win over a pseudo Lightning team that rested some of their top players for the playoffs ahead.
“That sucks,” captain J.T. Miller told The Post of finishing his first campaign as captain under such circumstances before the game Wednesday morning. “It’s the only reason you want to play, compete for the trophy. And so we didn’t achieve our goal. We failed there.”
This failed season didn’t just earn the Blueshirts an early summer for the second year a row.
It prompted an organizational redirection and reassessment that took precedence over the last three months.
The reconstruction work has already begun, but maximizing the offseason — NHL draft, free agency, etc. — will be pivotal in moving the needle as the Rangers strive to redefine the team and return to contending status as quickly as possible.
After Wednesday’s win, the Rangers’ final draft lottery odds are now in the Flames’ hands.
If Calgary defeats the Kings in their season finale Thursday night, the Rangers will secure the third-best odds to win the top-overall pick in the draft lottery on May 5.
A Flames loss would bump the Blueshirts down to the fourth-best odds.
While fans dreamed off potentially drafting projected first-overall pick Gavin McKenna, the Rangers went 6-4 in their last 10 games of the season. Fun returned to a locker room that has been starved since before last season.
Rookies like Gabe Perreault, Adam Sykora, Dylan Garand and Jaroslav Chmelar gave the final weeks meaning in more ways than one.
Perreault scored his 12th goal of the season in the second period, when he flung the puck through traffic to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead.
The goal tied Perreault with the Blues’ Dalibor Dvorsky and the Wild’s Danila Yurov, who both played over 70 games this season compared to the Rangers rookie’s 40.
The Rangers’ top line with Perreault, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière has been a sort of revelation down the stretch — one that head coach Mike Sullivan will no doubt continue exploring next season so long as all remain on roster.
While a Zibanejad power-play goal in the middle frame gave the Rangers a three-goal cushion, Tye Kartye scored the first two of the game to establish the upper hand.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
