Rookie Dylan Garand made 29 saves, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice and the New York Rangers remained unbeaten at home with a 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
The Rangers stopped their first losing streak of the opening weeks (0-1-1) and improved to 6-0-0 at home. New York has won its first six home games for the third time in team history and the first time since opening the 1990-91 season with a club-record eight straight home wins.
Sean Durzi scored 1:18 into the contest, marking the second time in team history the Rangers scored within the opening two minutes of a third straight home game. J.T. Miller recorded a power-play goal 4:38 into the second before Gabe Perreault and Bjorkstrand scored in a span of 2:57 later in that period.
Bjorkstrand finished off his second multi-goal game for the Rangers early in the third. It was his 23rd career multi-goal game.
Alexis Lafreniere collected two assists, including a backhanded pass to Mika Zibanejad that led to Perreault’s goal 10:17 into the second.
Pavel Dorofeyev added an assist by setting up Durzi’s goal on a night when he had five shots on target.
Garand came within 69 seconds of his second career shutout before Nick Jensen and A.J. Greer scored late goals.
The Ducks took their third straight loss and mustered little after peppering Garand at times in the opening 20 minutes. Anaheim also absorbed its first road loss (3-1-0) after extensive flight delays caused them to arrive at their hotel at around 2:30 a.m. ET.
Anaheim backup goalie Ville Husso allowed five goals on 30 shots.
Durzi opened the scoring when the Rangers maintained possession after Tye Kartye’s shot from the left point hit the post. Kartye got his own rebound and sent the puck to Dorofeyev behind the net. Dorofeyev connected with Durzi for a shot from the right point that went by Husso, who was screened by Miller.
Miller was left alone by Jackson Lacombe and Tim Washe in front of the net and easily deflected Fox’s wrist shot for a 2-0 lead. Zibanejad threaded the puck through the slot for Perreault, who easily scored from the left edge of the crease into a vacated net with 9:43 remaining in the middle frame.
After New York’s Justin Dowling pressured Beckett Sennecke into a turnover along the right boards, Bjorkstrand gained possession in the middle of the slot and lifted the puck over Husso for a 4-0 lead.