Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images The New York Rangers are set for their home opener at MSG on Thursday night.
The New York Rangers take to the ice in their home opener at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night when they face the Dallas Stars, who are kicking off their 2021-2022 season.
The game (7 p.m. ET start time) will be televised on MSG for those who live in the Rangers market, and Bally Sports Southwest for those who live in the Stars market. It will also stream live on ESPN+ for everyone out of market in the United States.
Here’s a full rundown of how you can watch a live stream of the Stars vs Rangers in the US, which your options depending on where you live:
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If the Game is in Your Market
DirecTV Stream
Note: This option is for viewers in the Stars or Rangers markets
DirecTV Stream (formerly AT&T TV) has four different channel packages: “Entertainment,” “Choice,” “Ultimate” and “Premier.” MSG (live in local markets) and Bally Sports Southwest (local markets) are included in “Choice” and up.
You can sign up right here:
Once signed up for DirecTV Stream, you can watch the Stars vs Rangers live on the DirecTV Stream app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the DirecTV Stream website.
If you can’t watch live, DirecTV Stream also comes with 20 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours).
FuboTV
Note: This option is for viewers in the Rangers market
You can watch a live stream of MSG (live in local markets) and 100-plus other live TV channels on FuboTV, which comes with a free seven-day trial:
Once signed up for FuboTV, you can watch the Stars vs Rangers live on the FuboTV app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or Series X/S, Samsung TV, LG TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the FuboTV website.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV also comes with 250 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour look-back feature, which allows you to watch most games on-demand within three days of their conclusion, even if you don’t record them.
If the Game is out of Your Market
ESPN+
Viewers in the United States can watch every out-of-market, non-nationally televised NHL game (over 1,000 games total) on ESPN+, which replaces NHL.tv this season and is a must-have for any NHL fan:
ESPN+, which also includes about 75 exclusive national NHL games, plus dozens of other live sports, every 30-for-30 documentary in existence and additional original content (both video and written), costs $6.99 for a month or $69.99 for a year (or about seven cents per NHL game if you want to look at it that way).
If you also want Disney+ and Hulu, you can get all three for $13.99 per month. Separately, the three streaming services would cost a total $20.97 per month, so you’re saving about 33 percent:
Get the ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu Bundle
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch the Stars vs Rangers (either team’s broadcast) live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Stars vs Rangers Preview
The New York Rangers look to bounce back from an opening night loss when they face the Dallas Stars in their home opener at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
The Rangers fell to the Washington Capitals in their 2021-22 season opener, 5-1, on the road on Wednesday night.
Gerard Gallant is taking the reigns for the Rangers as head coach after leading the Las Vegas Golden Knights for the previous three seasons, which included a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018. Gallant will look to implement an up-tempo, aggressive style of offense that will be led by Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Ryan Strome.
The Rangers’ young guns Kaapo Kakko (No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft) and Alexis Lafreniere (first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft) will have an opportunity this season to play regularly in the top six. The 20-year-old Kakko scored nine goals and tallied 17 points in 48 games in his second season in the NHL last year, while the 20-year-old Lafreniere netted 12 goals and recorded 21 points in 56 games as a rookie.
On the defensive end, the Rangers are once again led by Adam Fox, whose stellar 2020-21 season was rewarded by taking home the Norris Trophy, which goes to the league’s best defenseman. Fox led all defensemen in the NHL last season with 42 assists and was second with 47 points in 55 games.
In net, Rangers’ goaltender Igor Shesterkin will be playing his first full NHL season and will be backed up by Alex Georgiev, who got the start in Wednesday night’s season-opener against the Capitals.
Some of the key offseason additions for the Rangers included adding size, strength, and toughness with the signings of 6’2, 225-pound forward Ryan Reaves, 6’2, 210-pound forward Sammy Blais, and two-time Stanley Cup champion Barclay Goodrow, who inked a six-year deal with New York after spending the last two seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Dallas Stars take the ice on Thursday night to open their 2021-22 campaign, following a 2020-21 season in which they finished with a 23-19-14 record and failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Last season came down to not being able to close out games for Dallas, as they lost a league-high 14 games that ended in overtime or a shootout.
The Stars will get a lift this season with the return of their two top playmakers, forwards Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov. Dallas struggled to put the puck in the net last season without the services of Seguin and Radulov, who played in a combined 14 games.
One of the key offseason moves the Stars made, was signing defenseman Ryan Suter to a four-year deal after the Minnesota Wild bought out the final four seasons of his 13-year contract. The 36-year-old has tallied 607 career points (93 goals, 514 assists) in 1,198 regular-season games.
The Stars will have a plethora of options to choose from in net this season, with Anton Khudobin, Jake Oettinger, Braden Holtby and Ben Bishop competing for ice time. Khudobin and Oettinger split time in net last season, while Bishop was forced to miss the entire year due to knee surgery. The 11-year veteran Holtby, who led the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018, was signed to a one-year deal by Dallas in the offseason.