Fans fume over game on ESPN+

For the first time in a long time, the Rangers played a game Tuesday night that did not air on linear television in the tri-state area.

When the Rangers and Avalanche faced off, the game was available exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu — meaning it did not air on MSG.

This is a separate issue from MSG’s ongoing carriage dispute with Xfinity, a heated corporate tiff which has left those cable subscribers’ households without Knicks and Rangers games for months and counting.

After ending its 16-year partnership with NBC Sports, the NHL began its new seven-year pact with TNT and Disney/ESPN this season worth a total of $625 million a year, up from the $200 million NBC was paying. A carve-out in the latter deal calls for 75 games viewers can only find on ESPN+ or Hulu, not on broadcast or cable TV.

Tuesday marked the first of three Rangers games this season in this package; Feb. 1 against the Panthers and April 7 versus the Penguins will also leave people who will not or cannot add the Disney over-the-top service to their ever-growing bundle of media subscriptions. This is also the case for five Islanders games this season.

There are a lot of linear cable subscribers who do not want to toggle with multiple remotes and settop displays to watch TV — or might not even have the technological aptitude to do so — which is something that used to be a much more passive activity.

There are others who simply don’t want to fork over even more money in an endlessly fragmenting media landscape.

“My passion happens to be the Rangers and paying for the service for the 3 games they’re in is dumb,” one Rangers fan wrote in a tweet to ESPN NHL personality John Buccigross. “I already pay for ESPN on my cable package, why do they get to double dip?”