The Rangers Are 6-0-0 at Home Without Shesterkin

The New York Rangers beat Anaheim 5-2 on Monday and ran their Madison Square Garden record to 6-0-0. Dylan Garand made 29 saves in a fifth straight start, with Igor Shesterkin already ruled out for the season.

Last year’s club did not collect a sixth home win until Jan. 26. This one came against a Ducks team that reached its hotel at 2:30 a.m. after a 15-hour trip, and it still leaves New York 1-3-1 on the road.

A Snap From Durzi at 1:18 Ended the Mystery

At 1:18, Sean Durzi snapped a shot from the right point through traffic, with Pavel Dorofeyev and Tye Kartye on the assists and J.T. Miller screening Ville Husso. It was Durzi’s second goal of the year, and it was the third straight home game in which New York scored in the first two minutes, a burst the franchise had produced only once before, in March 1989.

Miller tipped Adam Fox’s point shot on the power play at 4:38 of the second. Gabe Perreault finished a tic-tac-toe at 10:17, Lafrenière going around Beckett Sennecke and Mika Zibanejad one-touching a pass to the right post. Oliver Bjorkstrand then intercepted Sennecke’s backhand in the middle of the Anaheim zone, walked in alone, and scored at 13:14.

THE SCORING

Bjorkstrand scored two goals, the second a snap through Husso’s legs off Taylor Raddysh at 3:26 of the third, with Braden Schneider taking the other assist. Nick Jensen’s slap from the slot at 18:51 broke the shutout, and A.J. Greer scored 36 seconds later off Garand. Husso finished with 25 saves. The Rangers are 7-3-1. Anaheim is 4-4-0 and has lost three in a row after opening 4-1.

Anaheim Sat on a Tarmac for Nearly Six Hours

Joel Quenneville called it a long shift, and the itinerary matched the line. The Ducks left for John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana at 8:30 a.m. PT on Sunday for a 9:30 departure that never happened, because the team plane was rerouted to Los Angeles International.

THE 15-HOUR TRIP TO NEWARK

• The bus: Players boarded a bus at John Wayne at 10:30 a.m. PT and were on the LAX plane by 11:30.
• The wait: Mechanical trouble kept them seated until 5 p.m., nearly six hours, with NFL RedZone and card games filling the cabin.
• The swap: They deplaned, walked 50 feet to a new aircraft, and took off at 6:05 p.m. PT for Newark.
• The arrival: Touchdown at 1:45 a.m. ET, no traffic into Manhattan, and they arrive at their hotel by 2:30 a.m.

They still took the morning skate at 11:30 a.m., nine hours after check-in. Defenseman Jackson LaCombe said they watched football and snapped cards, and that hanging together kept the mood up. Frank Vatrano said getting on the ice beat sitting in bed all day. Quenneville said they handled it like pros and that he wanted them ready to play. For most of Monday they were not. New York led 5-0 before Anaheim scored twice in the last 1:09, and the Ducks were due at the Islanders the next night in the back-to-back, with Lukas Dostal expected to start.

Dylan Garand Took the Cheers Reserved for Shesterkin

Shesterkin sustained a season-ending lower-body injury on Oct. 9 at Washington, when his skate jammed into the post as he scrambled back to the crease. The 2022 Vezina Trophy winner had opened 3-1-0 with a.927 save percentage. Joonas Korpisalo is still out with his own lower-body injury, which is how a 24-year-old who cleared waivers in the preseason became the starter.

Garand is 4-2-1 in seven games this season (six starts), with a 1.85 goals-against average, a.929 save percentage, and a shutout. He has allowed two or fewer goals in five of six starts and in nine of 10 NHL appearances dating to last spring. The exception was Oct. 15 at New Jersey, when he was pulled after 9 saves on 13 shots in 24:25 of a 7-1 loss, the first time he had been yanked in the NHL.

GARAND THROUGH MONDAY

• This season: 7 GP, 6 starts, 4-2-1, 1.85 GAA,.929, 1 shutout, 143 saves on 154 shots.
• Monday: 29 saves on 31 shots (.935) in 60:00 of a 5-2 win.
• The bad night: 9 saves on 13 shots in 24:25 at New Jersey on Oct. 15.
• The first shutout: 22 saves on 22 shots in a 2-0 win at Detroit on Oct. 2.

He said after an earlier Garden start that the cheers felt a little weird because they are typically reserved for Shesty, and that the support from the building still meant a lot. That is the trade the Rangers did not ask for. The crowd has already moved the noise over, and the calendar has not.

It’s an unfortunate circumstance with Shesty, but now I’m just trying to help the team any way I can.

Dylan Garand, Rangers goalie, after taking over the crease

Monday was his fifth consecutive start since the injury. The hugs on the Garden ice after the final horn looked like a starter’s night because that is what the job is now.

More goalie hugs for Dylan Garand on The Garden ice! 🫂 Garand is now 6-1-2 as a starting goaltender in the NHL. @kennyalbert | @DaveMaloneyMSG | #NYR pic.twitter.com/QjfqTYOANm

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 20, 2026

Last Year’s Sixth Home Win Waited Until Jan. 26

A year ago the puck would not go in at the Garden. New York lost its first seven games there, posted a 14-20-7 home record last season, and dropped 27 of 41 at MSG on the way to 34-39-9, 77 points, and last place in the Eastern Conference. The sixth home win arrived on Jan. 26, a 4-3 overtime decision over Boston in the 23rd game in the building, with Jonathan Quick in net.

HOME ICE, ONE YEAR APART

Alexis Lafrenière, who has 7 goals and 13 points through 11 games, said they struggled last year at home and that it helps that the building is electric. They have scored first in every home game this fall. Across the six wins they have outscored teams 29-10, which is the same number of home goals they had through 15 home dates last season. Coach Mike Sullivan said that when they talk about building an identity, it is one they can play no matter where they play. The record so far says the identity travels less well than it hosts.

Only the 1990-91 Rangers Opened Better at the Garden

Monday was the first time New York had won its first six home games since 1990-91, when Roger Neilson’s club won their first eight home games before a 3-2 loss to the Islanders on Nov. 2. That eight-game burst is still the franchise record for a season-opening home streak. The 1983-84 Rangers also opened 6-0-0 at home, so this is the third time the club has started 6-0-0 at MSG and only the second-longest such run.

SEASON-OPENING HOME STREAKS

• 1990-91: First eight at the Garden, the club record, then a loss to the Islanders on Nov. 2.
• 1983-84: First six at home, the other 6-0-0 open on the books.
• 2026-27: First six, with a goal in the opening two minutes in three straight home games, last done in March 1989.

Durzi joked that the Knicks’ NBA championship banner night next door supplied extra motivation. “We heard what was going on tomorrow night, so it’s nice to give back-to-back good nights at MSG,” he said, with the basketball club due to raise that banner against Philadelphia on Tuesday. The hockey club had already done its part.

Bjorkstrand Has Four Goals and Dorofeyev Has Two

The summer shopping is split on the scoresheet. Bjorkstrand, signed from Tampa Bay on July 1, now has four goals, and Monday was his second two-goal game of the season. Sullivan said he can really shoot it, that the two goals looked exactly the same, bar down, and that he has a great release. Bjorkstrand, named first star, said they just love playing at home, that it is an amazing place to play.

Dorofeyev, the headline addition from Vegas on June 26, is still on two goals. The Rangers sent the Nos. 26 and 92 picks this year and a conditional 2028 first-rounder to get him, then signed him to a seven-year, $77 million extension. He put five shots on Husso and picked up the secondary assist on Durzi’s opener, his third helper, and he has 5 points in 11 games. Chris Drury paid first-round capital for a finisher. The finisher has not finished much yet, and Perreault has already taken some of his power-play time.

Perreault’s fourth goal came on the Zibanejad-Lafrenière line that keeps finding the net. Durzi, signed from Utah on July 1, now has two goals and the early-strike habit. Miller, in his second season as captain, has two. The pieces that were supposed to fix last year’s Garden drought are on the ice. They are not all producing at the same rate, and the 6-0-0 start is covering the gap.

The Road Record Is 1-3-1 Heading to Toronto

The home number is the one traveling. The road number is 1-3-1: a loss at Boston on opening night, a 2-0 shutout at Detroit, a 3-1 loss at Washington the night Shesterkin went down, the 7-1 at New Jersey, and a 0-1 overtime loss at Columbus on Oct. 17 in which Garand stopped 28 of 29. Five of the six Garden wins do not follow them up the QEW.

Thursday’s game is at Toronto at 7 p.m., with Ottawa on Saturday before the Kings visit the Garden on Oct. 26. Korpisalo’s return is still ahead. Spencer Martin has already been recalled from Hartford as the other goalie. Garand will take the next one unless Sullivan says otherwise, and nothing in the last two weeks suggests otherwise.

Shesterkin is done until 2027-28. The Garden is 6-0-0. Those two facts are now the same season, and Toronto is the first place that will not care about either of them.