Rangers desperate for Garden win as Predators could serve as best chance

Millions dream about making it to Madison Square Garden. Countless athletes and celebrities consider it sacred ground, constantly sharing that there is no greater place to perform than the World’s Most Famous Arena.

But it has come to this:

“Whether we like it or not, we have a game on Monday at home,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said following Saturday’s 5-0 loss to the Islanders.

The Rangers have missed the playoffs five times since 2010. They’ve finished in last place. But the Garden remained the best bet to earn two points, with the team having gone more than two decades since it last ended a season with more regulation losses than wins at home.

Their centennial season has kicked off with the worst home start (0-6-1) in franchise history, the Rangers having become the first NHL team since 1928 to get shut out in five of their first seven home games.

Entering Sunday, the Rangers were the league’s lowest-scoring team (2.19 goals per game), ranking last in power-play percentage (12.2) and shooting percentage (7.6). But Monday’s matchup against the Predators (5-8-4) presents their best home opportunity yet, facing a team that ranked 27th in goals against (3.47) and 25th in save percentage (.889).

Nashville has lost seven of its past eight games — including four straight — and won its only road game Oct. 13.

If not now, when?

“We gotta find a way to score,” Zibanejad said. “I don’t care what it looks like, what happens on Monday, we just gotta get a win.

“I probably can do a better job of not [dwelling] on the missed chances, but I don’t know, honestly. It’s not two games or three games. It is frustrating not getting results at home. And then when you’re feeling good, you’re feeling energized — I feel great — and the puck doesn’t go in, it’s frustrating.”

On the surface, the league-best success by the Rangers on the road (7-1-1) makes their struggles at home more difficult to square, but it is that striking difference that exacerbates the issue among players who concede they are pressing, playing in front of a crowd that repeatedly has showered them with boos and grown conditioned to expect ineptitude.

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“We’ve won a lot of games on the road with the same game plan, with the same concept,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I know when we play the game a certain way, we’re competitive, and we’ve beaten some really good teams. I wish I could put my finger on the struggles we’ve had at home to this point, but what I do know is we’ve got to work through it together, and we’ll certainly do that. It starts with having an inner belief as an individual and a group. Then we’ve got to go out and put a game on the ice at home like we do on the road. If we do that, we’re gonna score goals, and we’ll have a chance to win.”

It has been nearly seven months since the Rangers won at home. It has been more than 130 minutes of game action since they last scored.

An early goal against Nashville could allow everyone in the building to exhale. But the Rangers can’t allow an early deficit to kick-start another spiral.

“We’re human. It’s hard. We all care. It’s not like it’s an effort-based thing,” captain J.T. Miller said. “Most of the time, we start ready. We had a great start [against the Islanders], then got a little careless with some decisions and it cost us. Then you press because it’s a lot of zeroes at home for us.

“We need to be mentally tough and regroup. We need to be ready to go on Monday because it’s game time again.”