Dylan Garand turned aside 29 shots and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice as the New York Rangers rolled past the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Monday at Madison Square Garden, stretching their home-opening winning streak to six games.
New York is 7-3-1 overall and 6-0-0 on Garden ice, its best home start since the 1990-91 club opened with eight straight wins in Manhattan. The Rangers did not collect their sixth home victory last season until Jan. 26.
Garand, now carrying the No. 1 workload after Igor Shesterkin sustained a season-ending lower-body injury on Oct. 9, has surrendered no more than two goals in five of six starts this season. He has done so in eight of his nine NHL appearances.
“The expectation is that he’ll win games, make saves and come up with them at important times,” Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. “He gives us an opportunity every night, and that’s what we need from him.”
Sean Durzi opened the scoring 1:18 into the first period, driving a snap shot from the blue line through traffic. The Rangers have now scored within the first two minutes in three straight home games, matching a franchise mark last achieved from March 15-22, 1989.
New York’s early push came against an Anaheim group that arrived late after aircraft maintenance turned Sunday’s trip into a 15-hour travel day. With the three-hour time change, the Ducks did not reach their hotel until 2:30 a.m. Monday.
Durzi, who previously played for Los Angeles, Arizona and Utah, said the Rangers understood the value of getting on the Ducks immediately.
“I’ve been on the other side of those cross-country trips, and they’re difficult,” Durzi said. “The start matters. Our starts have been strong all season, especially at home, and then it’s about keeping the pressure on.”
After the horn
J.T. Miller pushed the Rangers ahead 2-0 on the power play at 4:38 of the second, parked in front to redirect Adam Fox’s wrist shot from the point.
Gabe Perreault added the third at 10:17, finishing a sharp passing play at the right post. Durzi started the sequence with pressure along the right boards, while Alexis Lafreniere recovered the puck and worked around Beckett Sennecke before feeding Mika Zibanejad. Zibanejad quickly moved it across to Perreault.
“That was an easy one,” Perreault said.
Lafreniere finished with two assists and credited the Garden atmosphere for New York’s quick home start.
“We had a tough time at home last year,” Lafreniere said. “This has been a good beginning for us. The building is electric, as always, and we want to keep it going.”
Bjorkstrand broke the game open at 13:14 of the middle period. He intercepted Sennecke’s backhand attempt through the middle of the Anaheim zone, went in alone on Ville Husso and made it 4-0.
He struck again 3:26 into the third, taking Taylor Raddysh’s pass and firing a snap shot between Husso’s legs for his second of the night.
“He has a terrific release,” Sullivan said. “Both goals were similar — right up under the bar.”
Nick Jensen spoiled Garand’s shutout with 1:09 remaining, beating him from the slot with a slap shot over the goaltender’s stick. A.J. Greer was then credited with a goal after the puck deflected in off Garand with 33 seconds left.
The Ducks fell to 4-4-0 and have dropped three straight following a four-wins-in-five-games start. Husso made 25 saves.
“Our leading players were not good enough,” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said. “You could go down the list and not be pleased. The final score was kinder than our play deserved.”
Quenneville pointed to Anaheim’s lack of puck possession, recognition and second-effort work in battles after the early deficit. The Ducks rarely created enough danger to suggest a comeback was coming.
Jensen made his Anaheim season debut. Mikael Granlund returned after missing one game with an upper-body injury, recording two shots while finishing minus-2 in 16:08.
Sullivan said the Rangers are beginning to show a clearer picture of their team game.
“Our group understands what winning hockey needs to look like for us,” he said. “Once a team has that understanding, that’s when a real identity starts to take shape.”
