If the Rangers come up short by a couple of points somewhere down the line, this one in Toronto will be hard to ignore. They were loose in too many spots, got run around by the Leafs’ pace, and never quite recovered once the game started slipping away from them. Dylan Garand couldn’t patch over the mistakes in front of him, and even a huge night from Adam Fox wasn’t enough to keep the points in reach.
Fox was the bright spot by a mile. He finished with four assists, tied to every Rangers goal, and picked up the 78th multi-assist game of his career.
He’s now sitting on 14 points, all of them assists, through 12 games. After the noise around his rough stretch in a random exhibition tournament, he looked like the elite defenseman he’s been all along.
His calm with the puck, the way he slows the game down, and the small plays he makes look routine all stood out again. If this keeps up, he’s going to be right in Norris territory, Evan Bouchard included.
The frustration for the Rangers was that they did manage to get themselves back into it late. Alexis Lafreniere delivered a clutch goal, only for the team to fold right after and give up the winner before earning even a single point. That sequence says plenty about where things went wrong.
Garand’s night was a reminder that replacing an elite goaltender is no small thing. He is not Igor Shesterkin, and nobody should be expecting that.
The Rangers have leaned on some spoiled-level goaltending for years, with Henrik Lundqvist and then Shesterkin, and Garand is closer to what most teams actually have in net. There were likely two or three goals he’d want back.
Easton Cowan’s first-period goal came after a bad change and a semi breakaway, and the shot looked soft enough that Shesterkin might have handled it. Teddy Blueger’s goal later in the first had the same feel, with Garand unable to get his pads set quickly enough after a scramble.
Braden Schneider losing a puck battle behind the net helped set that one up. Garand should be fine, but this was his sixth straight start, so fatigue may have played a part.
Not everything went sideways, either. Oliver Bjorkstrand followed up his two-goal performance Monday against the Ducks with another goal, and his finish to make it a 2-2 game was a beauty.
He’s now second on the team in goals, which makes his current usage a little odd - fourth-line minutes with power-play second unit time, even though he belongs in the top six. Tye Kartye was also part of a costly breakdown, disconnecting after a delayed penalty and leaving Troy Stetcher with the opening to score the game winner.
That might be enough to push the lines back toward where they started.
The next test comes Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, and that matchup has historically been a tricky one for the Rangers. If they want to clean this up, it starts with a tighter defensive shell in front of Garand and smarter puck decisions in the offensive zone. Their 1-4-1 road start is not going to get them where they want to go, even if there’s some strange irony in the way their home-road split looks compared to last season.
In Other News...
Rangers Fans Have A New Reason To Watch Hartford Closely
The Hartford Wolf Pack finally got a result they could build on, ending a five-game skid with a 2-0 shutout of the Providence Bruins. For Rangers fans keeping one eye on the affiliate, it was a notable night because James Reimer stepped in for his Wolf Pack debut and looked very much like a veteran stabilizer, while Hartford got goals from Liam Greentree and Carey Terrance to snap the slump.
Reimer stopped 35 shots and gave the Wolf Pack the kind of calm, steady performance they had been missing during the losing streak. The bigger payoff for Hartford, and potentially for the organization, came from the way the game tightened late before Greentree delivered the key goal on the power play in the third period, giving the Rangers' minor-league club something to build around after a rough stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Must Avoid One Blue-Line Mistake Fans Have Already Seen
The Rangers added some depth on the blue line before heading into Ottawa by recalling Matthew Robertson from Hartford, a move that looked more like insurance than a guarantee of ice time. With the back end still being managed carefully, Mike Sullivan said Sean Durzi would be evaluated before the game, leaving the club with some uncertainty as it sorts out its defensive combinations on the fly.
Robertsons presence also comes with a wrinkle the Rangers have to monitor closely, since his NHL game count remains tied to contract-status considerations. If Durzi is unable to go, the more immediate question may not be whether Robertson dresses at all, but how Sullivan chooses to arrange the pairings and which defenseman gets the next look in a lineup that still has one moving part left to settle. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Have An Oliver Bjorkstrand Problem They'd Love To Solve
Oliver Bjorkstrand has done exactly what the Rangers hoped he might do, only in a role that has made the fit look a little awkward so far. Even while skating on the fourth line, he has already scored multiple goals, giving the club a useful scoring punch from a spot in the lineup that usually does not produce much offense. For a team still sorting through its forward mix, that kind of production has made Bjorkstrand impossible to ignore.
Mike Sullivan has made it clear he wants to get Bjorkstrand on the ice more often, and the Rangers are looking at different ways to make that happen without creating another hole elsewhere. The addition of Luke Glendening was meant to help steady the center depth after Joe Veleno's injury, but it also adds another layer to the lineup puzzle as the Rangers try to balance veterans, depth needs and the best way to use one of their most productive scorers. [Read more 🡒]