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J.T. Miller Goes Off with Strong Words Towards the New York Rangers' Poor Start
Photo credit: Blake Dahlin-Imagn Images.
Former Vancouver Canucks forward J.T. Miller is growing frustrated by the New York Rangers' poor start to the 2025-26 season at home and is shouldering the blame.
J.T. Miller is 14 games into his tenure as captain of the New York Rangers and while the team was hoping that some big offseason trades and a coaching change would spark their group, it appears that has not happened.
As everyone knows by now, the New York Rangers have been extremely poor at Madison Square Garden this season, with the club having yet to win on home ice entering action on Tuesday and their play in general has been uninspiring, as J.T. Miller told reporters last month that this group needs to be better.
"You just can't be okay with coming out flat. We're in no position to come out flat. Be in the right mindset, we're ready to go. We got outplayed again in the first period. It kind of set the tone. Thought we had a good second period. Couple mistakes hurt us. But other than that, we had a good second period, a good third. We're obviously not getting a ton of bounces offensively, which is more of a reason. There's no excuses to come up flat. It sucks. This is not fun right now. We need to correct the starts. I think it's becoming like the trend now, so we need to fix this now, on this trip. I mean, it's a hard road trip, so we got to be ready to go to start the game." Miller said according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post in late October.
J.T. Miller frustrated by New York Rangers' poor home start to 2025-26 season
Last night, the New York Rangers hosted the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden and while Miller led the way for his team in the shot department with five, they failed to come up with the two points, falling 3-0 and are now 0-5-1 at home this season.
After the game, Miller met with reporters where he expressed his frustration over the team's start to the 2025-26 season, especially at MSG, saying "it's not cute anymore" and that himself & the leadership group have to find a way to dig deep and carry the group.
"It starts with myself and the leadership group. This is where we need to dig deep and carry the load a little and raise our own expectations for ourselves; not just, 'We like what we're doing and we're getting looks.' It's not really cute anymore. It's been 14 games, I think, and we're not executing by capitalizing on our chances." Miller said according to Vince Z. Mercogliano.
The East Palestine, Ohio native certainly needs to be better for the Rangers as he's registered just three goals and eight points in 14 games, which simply isn't good enough for a player that was once had three consecutive seasons with 30+ goals.
As for the Rangers' home slump, they're hoping to break out of that very soon, with the next possible date for their first win at MSG this season coming on Saturday night as they host their rivals, the New York Islanders.
Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily
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NOVEMBRE 5 | 888 ANSWERS J.T. Miller Goes Off with Strong Words Towards the New York Rangers' Poor Start Do you think J.T. Miller can help the New York Rangers turn things around and compete for a playoff spot later this season? | ||
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