- James Reimer was pulled after one period of his Rangers debut
- He allowed three goals on eight shots in a 6-3 loss to the Kings
- Read below for what led to the start and what comes next in net
James Reimer’s Rangers debut lasted exactly one period.
The 38-year-old goalie allowed three goals on eight shots against the Kings on Monday night at Madison Square Garden before Dylan Garand took over for the second period. Los Angeles went on to win 6-3.
The Kings needed only two shots to get started. Taylor Ward beat Reimer on the first shot he faced as a Ranger at 1:15, and Brandt Clarke tipped in the second one at 4:52. Check out the first goal:
J.T. Miller cut it to 2-1 at 13:01, but Drew Doughty restored the two-goal lead at 17:32 and that was the end of Reimer’s night. The Rangers never got closer than two goals after that.
Here’s the second goal, which came right behind the first:
The whole point of the move was to give Garand a breather. He had started every game since Igor Shesterkin went down with a season-ending injury on Oct. 9, and he allowed five goals in each of his last two starts, losses at Toronto and Ottawa.
Mike Sullivan was asked about the workload after the morning skate.
“We’re asking a lot of Dylan,” Sullivan said. “He just had seven starts in a row, and there’s a certain attention, focus that’s required with the goaltending position.”
Reimer got to Broadway quickly. He signed a tryout with Hartford on Oct. 15, stopped 35 shots in a shutout for the Wolf Pack on Saturday, and signed his NHL deal on Sunday. He started the next night.
Garand stopped 15 of 17 shots over the final two periods. Doughty also had two assists, and Artemi Panarin scored on the power play, while Tye Kartye and Adam Fox scored for the Rangers.
The Rangers fell to 7-6-1 and don’t play again until Sunday. That gives Sullivan almost a week to decide who gets the next start.
