The Rangers were staring at a season-threatening problem when Igor Shesterkin went down with a lower-body injury and was quickly ruled out for the year. For a team built around a goalie who could drag them through rough patches, that kind of loss could have sent everything sideways.
Instead, New York has managed to keep itself afloat.
Rookie Dylan Garand has been thrown into the fire and answered the call, appearing in 12 straight games and starting 10 of them. That’s a heavy load for any goaltender, and especially for one who came into the season with just three NHL games on his résumé and was waived after training camp.
He cleared, stayed with the organization, and now the Rangers are benefitting from it.
The other piece of the picture is Joonas Korpisalo, who is back after missing more than a month to begin the season because of a foot infection. He made his second start of the year in New York’s 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames, giving the Rangers another option in goal and a little more stability at a position that looked shaky when Shesterkin went down.
That’s exactly how Mike Sullivan sees it.
“Both of these guys are giving us a chance to win right now,” Sullivan said, via Vincent Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic (subscription required).
“It gives us the ability to share the workload. And I think the benefit of sharing the workload is potentially getting the best version of both guys, because they’re both going to see action, but they’re both going to have the ability to recover.
They’ll get some quality reps with our goalie coach (Jeff Malcolm) that keeps their game sharp on the off days. I think it could be a real good tandem for us.”
That’s the formula now: keep the crease steady enough to win games, and let the rest of the roster do the heavy lifting. The Rangers don’t need perfection there. They just need average-level goaltending that gives them a shot.
They got it against Calgary, where Mika Zibanejad scored twice in the win.
New York now heads into the final game of its four-game road trip against the Vancouver Canucks, a team sitting near the bottom of the standings. Garand could be back in net for that one, and Sullivan’s comments make it clear the Rangers are comfortable riding whichever goalie is giving them the best chance on a given night.
If one of them gets hot, the team will go with it. For now, though, the Rangers have something they didn’t seem likely to have when Shesterkin went down: a goalie tandem Sullivan trusts.
In Other News...
Brennan Othmann Just Reopened A Rangers Debate Fans Never Settled
Brennan Othmann has put the Rangers back in a familiar conversation, one that tends to linger whenever a young player leaves New York with unfinished business. The former first-round pick has publicly made clear he was unhappy with the opportunities he got in New York, saying he felt his chances were not the same as what other players received, and that kind of frustration always lands differently when it comes from a prospect the organization once hoped would grow into more.
Since moving on to Calgary, Othmann has shown a little more offense, but the broader picture still looks unsettled. His production has trended downward from his junior days into the pro ranks, and while there has been some slight improvement with the Flames, he has yet to make a major imprint in games, leaving the Rangers with one more reminder of how quickly the debate around development can turn from internal patience to public second-guessing. [Read more 🡒]
Mika Zibanejad Gave The Rangers Exactly What They Needed
The Rangers got the kind of lift they have been waiting for in a 3-1 win over the Flames, and Mika Zibanejad was at the center of it. He scored twice, including once on the power play, giving New York a needed spark in a game where goals were at a premium and special teams mattered. Adam Klapka got Calgary on the board with a power-play goal of its own, but the Rangers had enough response to control the night.
Tye Kartye added the empty-net goal to finish it off in the closing moments, turning a tight one-goal margin into a more comfortable final. For a Rangers team that has been looking for more from its top end, Zibanejads night stood out not just for the finish, but for the timing of it, with the kind of production that can settle a group down and change the tone of a game. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Are Getting Far Less Respect Than Their Start Deserves
The Rangers have spent the first stretch of the season proving they can hang around the top of the Metropolitan Division even without Igor Shesterkin, and the early results have them sitting in a playoff position if the season ended today. At 10-8-1, they have done enough to stay relevant in a crowded race, which makes the outside view of their start look a little harsh.
One recent NHL power ranking had New York all the way down at 20th, a placement that does not quite line up with where the standings say they belong. For a team trying to stay afloat without its star goalie, the gap between perception and production is becoming part of the story, and it will be worth watching whether the Rangers can keep forcing the conversation back to the ice. [Read more 🡒]