- Rangers beat the Ducks 5-2 to improve to 6-0-0 at Madison Square Garden
- Dylan Garand made 29 saves, and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice
- Read below for what the Rangers said about the turnaround at home
The Rangers are perfect at Madison Square Garden.
New York beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Monday night to move to 6-0-0 at home, its best start there since 1990-91, when the team won its first eight games at the Garden. The Rangers are 7-3-1 overall.
That is a long way from last season. The Rangers didn’t pick up their sixth home win until Jan. 26, and Alexis Lafreniere was asked about the difference.
“Obviously, we struggled last year at home,” Lafreniere said. “It’s good to have the start we’re having this year. I think it helps us that the building is electric. It’s always the best. We’ll try to keep it going.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, and Sean Durzi, J.T. Miller and Gabe Perreault each added a goal. Durzi opened the scoring at 1:18 of the first, which made it three straight home games with a goal in the first two minutes. The Rangers have done that over three straight home games only once before, back in March 1989.
Perreault’s goal in the second made it 3-0 and came off a slick passing sequence that started with a Durzi forecheck. Watch the tap-in:
In goal, Dylan Garand stopped 29 shots. He has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his six starts this season, and he has done it in eight of nine NHL starts overall.
Garand took over as the No. 1 goalie after Igor Shesterkin went down with a season-ending injury on Oct. 9, and the 24-year-old had cleared waivers in the preseason. Coach Mike Sullivan was asked about his expectations for Garand.
“My expectation, just based on his body of work here, is that he’s going to win, he’s going to make saves for us, he’s going to make timely saves,” Sullivan said. “He’s given us a chance to win night in and night out, and that’s what we’re asking of him.”
InGoal Magazine’s Kevin Woodley compared Garand’s game to Dustin Wolf’s on Daily Faceoff LIVE, pointing to how well he holds his edges and avoids overcommitting.
Even the Rangers’ net coming off its moorings didn’t rattle him. Check out the moment:
Anaheim never got going. The Ducks spent 15 hours traveling to New York on Sunday because of plane maintenance and didn’t reach their hotel until 2:30 a.m. Monday. Nick Jensen and A.J. Greer scored 36 seconds apart late in the third to break the shutout bid.
Sullivan said the group has a clear picture of what its winning hockey looks like. The Rangers get to test that again soon, and Garand has already shown he can handle it. Catch up on how Garand got his shot in our recap of the first game without Shesterkin.
