ELMONT, New York — For the Rangers, what’s become familiar is now reaching unprecedented levels.

Through 40 games, New York has been shut out eight times. That’s as many shutout losses as they suffered in 276 games between Feb. 7, 2022, and Oct. 6, 2025, the day before the 2025-26 season began. The Rangers are one of only seven teams this century to have eight shutouts in the first half of their year, per NHL Stats. They’re halfway to the modern-day season record held by the 2006-07 Blue Jackets, who had 16 on the year.

It’s a problem. It’s been a problem all season.

“When we go on the ice, we’re not thinking, ‘Oh, we have eight games already without goals,’ but it’s frustrating,” Artemi Panarin said after a 2-0 loss to the Islanders. “We’re doing that over and over this year. We’ve got to fix everything. We’ve got to fix our offensive zone. We’re not playing close together.”

In a different year, Saturday’s game wouldn’t have been too much of a cause for concern. Sure, the Rangers got outplayed in the first 10 minutes, but they recovered and had what Vincent Trocheck called a “pretty even match” overall. The Islanders capitalized on a bounce early, scoring after Carson Soucy couldn’t corral a puck deep in his own zone, and their goalie, David Rittich, played well, staving off the 27 Rangers’ shots he saw, including a few from dangerous areas. Those games happen.

But this year they have happened far too frequently. The Rangers are last in the Eastern Conference in goals scored despite leading in games played. It’s the major reason they are 15th in point percentage (.525), ahead of only Columbus.

“We’ve been talking about it all season,” Mika Zibanejad said. “When we’re not connected as five, it’s hard for us to play. It’s hard for us to create. It’s hard for us to defend them. It’s hard for us to play offense.”

“We need more people inside so that when we do ultimately get pucks there, we’ve got numbers to create on pucks and create off the broken play or create off the shot,” coach Mike Sullivan added when asked if the team is moving enough when it has possession in the offensive zone. “I think sometimes the motion of the movement gets good to us and then we don’t get inside with enough people. When that happens, I don’t think we get as much to show for it as the time that we spend there.”

The power play — a strength of the Rangers in past years — has also struggled mightily. It’s converted on only five of 37 chances (13.5 percent) in the 13 games since defenseman Adam Fox went down with a shoulder injury. Against the Islanders, they couldn’t score on three chances, a Soucy penalty shot or when goalie Igor Shesterkin was pulled for an extra attacker.

“I just didn’t think we were as clean or as sharp or as crisp as I know that we’re capable of,” Sullivan said. “From that standpoint, that was a missed opportunity.”

Without Fox, the quarterback on the power-play unit, and captain J.T. Miller, the Rangers are down two offensive threats. Those are unfortunate realities, but New York has other capable playmakers who need to find ways to generate offense. If they don’t soon, the pack of teams fighting for playoff spots in a crowded Eastern Conference could start to pull away.