Rangers Are 6-0 at MSG — Garand Is Making Shesterkin's Absence Survivable
GOATIFYSix games at Madison Square Garden, six wins. The New York Rangers' 5-2 defeat of Anaheim on Monday did more than preserve a perfect home record. It offered the clearest look yet at how a team expected to lean on Igor Shesterkin can still build a winning identity without him. Rookie Dylan Garand stopped 29 shots, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, and New York produced goals from its captain, a young winger and a defenseman before the Ducks could mount any meaningful response.
That matters because the Rangers' home record was a weakness last season, not an advantage they could take for granted. They did not earn their sixth home win until January 26 and lost 27 of 41 games at the Garden. Now they are 6-0-0 there for the first time since 1990-91, when they opened with eight consecutive home victories. The transformation is real on the scoreboard. Whether it survives tougher opponents and more road games is the question.
The goalie story is unavoidable: Shesterkin's lower-body injury ended his season after October 9, leaving Garand to inherit a job no prospect could reasonably be expected to replace like-for-like. But the most encouraging feature of Monday's result was that Garand did not have to steal it. New York got in front immediately, created chances in several different ways and played with enough structure to protect the lead until two cosmetic late Anaheim goals.
Six straight home wins show a different Rangers team at Madison Square Garden
New York's home improvement is too large to reduce to a lucky opening stretch. Last season the Rangers needed until January 26 to win six times in their own building. This season they reached six on October 19. A 6-0-0 home start has happened only three times in franchise history, and the club has not achieved it since the 1990-91 team won its first eight at the Garden. That historical comparison gives the streak meaning without pretending six games settle an 82-game season.
Against Anaheim, the advantage was visible almost immediately. Sean Durzi scored 1:18 into the first period with a point shot through traffic. The Rangers have now scored inside the first two minutes in three consecutive home games, something the franchise had previously done only once, in March 1989. It is more than a trivia note: a quick lead changes which team must take risks, which matchups the coach can choose and how much patience the Rangers can exercise with the puck.
The Ducks were an imperfect measuring stick. A maintenance delay created a 15-hour trip across the continent, and they reached their hotel around 2:30 a.m. on game day. Anaheim was clearly not at its sharpest, and its coaches acknowledged the lack of effective puck battles and possession. A serious evaluation has to account for that fatigue. Yet the Rangers did the essential thing good home teams are supposed to do: they exploited a vulnerable opponent instead of leaving the game close enough for one bounce to change it.
What stands out is how New York has controlled the terms of its home games. The Rangers have not had to chase a deficit at Madison Square Garden this season, an especially valuable habit for a team learning to play without its franchise goaltender. Early offense is giving its defense and young netminder room to breathe. The next step is to prove the same start-to-finish concentration when the opponent is rested, the score is level late, and the building cannot supply the momentum on demand.
Garand is not Shesterkin — and that is precisely why his early response matters
The hardest question for the Rangers arrived on October 9, when Igor Shesterkin suffered a lower-body injury that would rule him out for the season. New York could not simply replace an elite established starter with an equally accomplished player. Instead, coach Mike Sullivan handed the net to Dylan Garand, a young goalie whose NHL résumé was still measured in appearances rather than seasons.
Garand's 29 saves against Anaheim made the decision look workable. He allowed two goals only after New York had built a 5-0 lead, with the Ducks scoring twice in the final 69 seconds. The distinction matters. Those late concessions spoiled the shutout, but they did not force New York to change its tactics, gamble for offense or survive a desperate finish. The Rangers had already done enough to put the game away.
Through six starts this season, Garand has allowed two goals or fewer in five. He has done the same in eight of nine NHL appearances across his career, according to the league's game report. That is promising consistency, but it should not be mistaken for proof that a rookie can replicate Shesterkin's workload for the rest of the season. The 7-1 defeat against New Jersey earlier this month demonstrated how quickly a bad night can arrive when the defense breaks down and an inexperienced goalie is asked to solve every problem.
The sensible standard for Garand is not to dominate every opponent. It is to deliver enough reliable saves for the rest of the team to win with structure, disciplined coverage and timely scoring. Sullivan's own emphasis has been on winning and making the stops that matter rather than on imposing impossible statistical expectations. That is a healthier way to protect both the player and the season. New York will eventually face heavier traffic, longer road stretches and teams that sustain pressure better than Anaheim did. The front office still needs a contingency plan, but Garand is earning the right to keep playing while that question remains open.
Five goals, five routes to danger: Bjorkstrand and Perreault widened the attack
The Rangers did not beat Anaheim through a single hot line or one unstoppable scorer. Durzi's opening point shot was followed by a J.T. Miller power-play deflection at 4:38 of the second period, a flowing passing move finished by Gabe Perreault, and two Oliver Bjorkstrand goals from sharp, decisive releases. Five goals from four scorers and several different attacking patterns is the kind of distribution that makes an opponent's defensive adjustment more difficult.
Perreault's goal was the cleanest demonstration of collective execution. Durzi pressured the puck along the wall, Alexis Lafreniere supported behind the play, and the puck moved from Lafreniere to Mika Zibanejad to Perreault for a finish at the post. None of those passes required a spectacular solo rush. They required the players to recognize support, make the next play quickly and attack the space that Anaheim's defense had surrendered. That is the sort of repeatable sequence a coach can build around.
Bjorkstrand supplied a different weapon. His first goal came after he intercepted a risky Ducks pass in the defensive zone and attacked the goalie alone. His second was a quick shot from a Taylor Raddysh feed early in the third period. Both showed the value of a player who does not need a long wind-up or a perfect power-play setup to finish. His two-goal performance was particularly important for New York's scoring depth: a team missing its elite goalie cannot afford to become a one-line offense.
There are caveats. Anaheim's travel difficulties were real, and the Ducks' poor execution created chances that a sharper team might not gift. Still, the Rangers converted those errors ruthlessly. A power-play goal, a transition finish, a puck-recovery sequence and a quick-release scorer all appeared in the same game. The bigger question is whether this variety remains available against tighter defenses. If it does, the Rangers will be able to protect Garand by scoring first and keeping opponents from loading up on one star or one line.
Sullivan's structure is working at home; the road will reveal its ceiling
For Sullivan, the strongest argument for optimism is that the Rangers' performances increasingly resemble a coherent team rather than a group waiting for one player to rescue them. The players have talked about knowing what winning hockey should look like. The coach has emphasized a shared understanding of the team's identity. Against Anaheim, that meant fast starts, pressure on the puck, simple support plays and enough positional discipline that Garand was not forced to defend a stream of uncontested chances.
That does not mean the 5-2 score was flawless. The Ducks still generated 31 shots, and two goals in the final minute prevented Garand from closing with a shutout. It would be a mistake to wave those details away simply because the result was secure. Stronger opponents will turn lapses into meaningful goals earlier in games. New York also must be careful not to confuse a comfortable lead against a tired visitor with proof of championship-level defensive control.
The home-road split will be the obvious next test. The Rangers leave the Garden to visit Toronto on Thursday, a useful measuring point after the Maple Leafs ended a three-game skid with their own Monday victory over San Jose. The atmosphere will change, New York will not control the matchups as easily, and the pressure on Garand could rise if the Rangers concede first. A team that has not trailed at home must eventually show that it can play its way back into a game when the crowd is against it.
There is also a long-term roster question. Shesterkin's absence is season-long, not a brief interruption. The Rangers need their defensive pairs, special teams and depth forwards to keep producing even as the schedule becomes less forgiving. The encouraging part of Monday's win is that those units contributed. Durzi opened the scoring, Miller delivered on the power play, Perreault finished a team move, and Bjorkstrand provided a second scoring option. None of those contributions alone solves the goalie problem. Together they reduce the number of nights when Garand has to.
Six straight wins at Madison Square Garden have changed the Rangers' early-season conversation. The club that struggled badly at home a year ago is now starting games on its own terms, getting offense from across the lineup and giving a young goaltender a manageable environment. Monday's win over Anaheim was not a definitive test of how far this group can go, especially given the Ducks' exhausting travel day. It was, however, a persuasive example of how New York wants to win.
Garand cannot erase the loss of Shesterkin, and no one should ask him to. What the Rangers can do is make the task around him smaller: win puck battles, keep scoring threats distributed, avoid careless defensive stretches and maintain their fast starts. The unbeaten Garden record is a promising beginning. The next road swing will show whether it is the foundation of a real turnaround.
