The New York Rangers lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Jets on Sunday in Dylan Garand‘s debut. Garand more than acquitted himself well in the defeat, stopping 35 of 37 shots, showing strong positional play between the pipes, and earning additional time in net. Tonight, New York faces Ottawa at home with Mika Zibanejad slated to play his 1,000th NHL contest.
Game recap:
Rangers lines vs. Jets:
Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière
Kartye-Miller-Sheary
Cuylle-Trocheck-Raddysh
Brodzinski-Edström-Chmelař
Gavrikov-Fox
Robertson-Schneider
Mackey-Borgen
Garand
Shesterkin
Scratches: Quick (upper-body injury), Laba (lower-body injury), Vaakanainen (upper-body injury), Iorio, Pärssinen
IR: Rempe (thumb injury)
Garand NHL debut!
A few thoughts:
1) Garand, a fourth-round pick (103rd overall in 2020), was promoted a few times for depth but had not seen any game action. He found out on Wednesday that he would be in goal Sunday, giving the nerves three-plus days to either settle or ratchet up. Garand showed no signs of nervousness or being awed in the moment, looking strong throughout the game.
With the team playing out the string, Garand should be provided a substantial number of starts down the stretch to see if he is up to possibly being the second goalie next season. Garand made several top-shelf saves in the game, stopping a few breakaways while displaying solid side-to-side movement in net. His lateral movement was better than advertised.
2) Tye Kartye – the claiming of Kartye has been one of the better moves made by GM Chris Drury. Beyond the scoring, he has brought a physical presence and some speed to the third line. Most importantly, I love that he immediately came to Conor Sheary’s defense.
3) Zibanejad reached several milestones with his power-play tally Sunday. The marker was Zibanejad’s 280th career goal with the Rangers, tying Adam Graves for fourth in franchise history; Rod Gilbert leads with 406. In addition, Zibanejad reached the 30-goal mark for the fourth time in his career, all coming with New York. Today, Zib skates in his 1,000th career contest, he has 344 goals and 463 assists in 999 games.
After a brutal season-plus, Zibanejad raised his game this season. He has been one of the few Rangers providing a reasonable effort in 2024-25. After falling from 91 to 72 points in 2023-24, Zib’s production dropped to 62 points, which isn’t an accurate representation of just how poorly he played last season. Zibanejad came out with renewed effort this season, reflected in his output: 30 goals and 37 assists in 69 appearances.
Enjoy the day Mike, you deserve it.
4) Drew Fortescue, whose BC season ended, signed his ELC over the weekend. Fortescue, whom the Rangers selected with the No. 90 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, is a stay-at-home defenseman. He had four goals, 14 points and 47 PIM in 35 outings with Boston College in 2025-26. The 20-year-old is a potential third-pairing defenseman who needs to become quicker and stronger while also improving on his angle play. Fortescue should see action before the end of the season.
5) Scott Wheeler is posting his prospect rankings to the Athletic: Rangers are ranked 18th with Gabe Perreault their top prospect and Liam Greentree second. New York needs an uplift in talent to raise its place in the league.
Home › Forums › Rangers Fall to Jets, Garand Debut, M1KA
Tagged: New York Rangers, nhl