Recap: Rangers Drop 3-2 Shootout Decision to Jets Despite Garand’s 35-Save Debut

The New York Rangers are taking on the Winnipeg Jets in a Sunday afternoon game at the Garden. Dave Maloney pointed out that these teams are the last two Presidents' Trophy winners, which, looking at the standings, is just an astonishing fact to realize. The Jets and Rangers last played each other just ten days ago, with the Rangers winning comfortably 6-3 while they were in the middle of their J.T. Miller-less winning streak.

The Rangers are celebrating Kid's Day in today's matinee game, so it feels right that their longtime goaltending prospect, Dylan Garand, will finally get to make his NHL regular season debut. As of now, there is still no sign of the Rangers' newest young defenseman, so we're still waiting for Fortescue to make his debut with the team. With injuries to Noah Laba and Urho Vaakanainen, the lineup below will more than likely resemble what we get for the foreseeable future.

First Period

As the game began, the two teams were feeling each other out with no big scoring chances for either side. Dylan Garand made his first NHL save on Cole Koepke, which seemed to settle the young goaltender's nerves. The best early opportunity for the Rangers was for Gabe Perreault, but he just missed the puck, missing out on a breakaway chance.

Kenny Albert and Dave Maloney pointed out Dylan Garand's unusual antics during the first television timeout. Most goalies hang out by the bench and grab some water, but Garand, after visiting the bench, skated to center ice and then sprinted back toward his net. Maybe it's a ritual? Or perhaps a way to calm his nerves? Only Garand knows for sure.

The Jets hadn't had many dangerous chances so far, but they were definitely controlling possession and often keeping the puck in the Rangers' zone. The first clear scoring opportunity for the Rangers came around seven minutes into the period when Kartye deliberately absorbed a hit to make a pass from behind the net to J.T. Miller, who attempted to deke around Jets' goaltender Eric Comrie, but the puck ricocheted off the post. As the puck wrapped around behind the net and over to the boards the play was whistled down as there was a big scrum.

Conor Sheary skating toward the loose puck was hit from behind into the boards by Cole Perfetti. Kartye, taking issue with the play, immediately engaged Perfetti as both teams came to the aid of their players. After the officials convened by the penalty box and discussed the sequence of events, the only penalty they awarded was surprisingly to Kartye for roughing. Dave Maloney personally took issue with the officials not calling anything on Perfetti, whose initial dangerous play started the whole fiasco. As the Department of Player Safety has recently been under fire for their inability to hold players accountable, it's concerning that the officials are also struggling to make the right calls at the game level. You don't ever really want your team to take unnecessary penalties, but it's refreshing to see the Rangers defend their own, and this shorthanded scenario is solely on the officials.

Around the fifteen-minute mark, the Rangers were able to generate some zone pressure again—something they've struggled to do throughout the period. Cycling the puck, Will Borgen passed it over to Connor Mackey, who wound up for a one-timer but broke his stick. The Rangers managed to maintain possession, and Mackey went to the bench, replaced by Gavrikov. Gavrikov ended up with the puck at the blue line and, noticing multiple Rangers sticks hovering around the crease, sent a hard pass toward the net. However, it went just wide as several Rangers missed getting their sticks on the puck to tap it in for an easy goal.

The Jets would get on the board first. Adam Lowry breaking into the Rangers' zone tried to flip the puck past Adam Fox, Fox in an impressive play batted the puck down but unfortunately for the Blueshirts the puck went right to Perfetti. Gabriel Vilardi, crashing the net received the pass from Perfetti, who slid it over to a wide open Lowry who was able to tap it into a wide open net.

With less than a minute remaining in the period, the Jets were applying pressure. Neal Pionk passed it to Dylan DeMelo, who skated in a few steps and wristed a shot toward the top corner. Kenny Albert, commentating on the play as it happened, announced a goal, but the play didn't devolve into Winnipeg celebrations. Dave Maloney noted he didn't think that was a goal; upon further review, Schneider, battling for position in front of the net, clipped the post, which confused the broadcast team into thinking the puck deflected off the iron and into the net. However, the replay showed Garand flashing his glove hand and calmly handing the puck to the officials.

Second Period

The Rangers offense struggled to get anything going in the first period, but they started the second period on an entirely different foot. From the opening face-off, the J.T. Miller line dumped the puck in deep and forechecked aggressively. Conor Sheary, Tye Kartye, and Miller prevented the Jets from easily collecting the puck, while Schneider and Robertson helped keep the puck in the Jets' zone. Behind the net, Sheary battled for possession, and the puck got out in front of Comrie, but the Jets prevented Miller from reaching the puck in the slot. Miller stayed with the play and poked the puck away from the Jets back toward the net, where Kartye was alone and fired the puck into the net to tie the game.

Shortly after they tied the game, Kartye had another similar opportunity when Miller deftly slid the puck through coverage out in front, but Comrie, with good positioning, made the big save. The Jets immediately broke out of the zone and transitioned the puck the other way; Perfetti had a great chance to snipe one past Garand from the slot, but the Rangers' young netminder made the big save. On the next cycle from the Jets, it was Scheifele who was denied by Garand, marking his fourteenth save of the game after just a period and change.

A minute later, the Jets again broke into the Rangers' zone. Kyle Connor skated hard down the left boards when Taylor Raddysh, struggling to keep up, slashed at him. The Jets were awarded the first power play of the period, and although Garand made several great saves, the Jets managed to take the lead again. Moving the puck around the zone, they searched for gaps in the Rangers' penalty kill coverage and finally found one. Kyle Connor had the puck along the boards, and Gabriel Vilardi, anticipating the play, slipped past the Rangers' defense into the slot. Connor passed the puck precisely where Vilardi was, and Vilardi launched the puck past Garand.

Close to halfway through the period, the Rangers would get their own power play after Haydn Fleury interfered with Lafrenière in front of the net. The Rangers had some great looks during the man advantage. With their new setup of Lafrenière in front, any shot on net was a dangerous opportunity. They passed the puck around the perimeter, and Zibanejad wound up with a knuckle puck that Comrie saved, but a big rebound came out. Trocheck just couldn't settle the puck and whiffed on a bouncing puck. Shortly after, J.T. Miller had a chance where he wound up for his own slapshot but completely missed, leading to a broken play. In a bizarre sequence, Fox failed to reach a pass but dove to try to get it. Connor sped past him and broke free on a shorthanded breakaway, but Garand played aggressively and used his stick to make the big stop against the Jets' star forward. Just as the penalty expired, Brodzinski got his own breakaway, but Comrie calmly blocked the puck and cleared it away from the net.

The Rangers soon got another power play when Perfetti went to the box for tripping Jaroslav Chmelar. The call drew some stick taps from Zibanejad, who threw his arms up as he watched Perfetti commit the infraction. This time, the Rangers made the Jets pay. Fox passed the puck to Zibanejad, who tried to pass it toward the net, but it deflected off a Winnipeg skate back to Fox. Fox once again slid it over to Zibanejad, who chose to take a one-timer and fired the puck past Comrie into the net to tie the game. This marked Zibanejad's 30th goal of the season in his 999th NHL game. With this goal, Zibanejad also tied Adam Graves for fourth place on the New York Rangers' all-time career goals list.

While the Jets initially controlled the game, the second period favored the Rangers as they outshot the Jets 16-14. For a moment, it seemed the game was slipping away from the Blueshirts, but the turning point that tilted the ice back in their favor was Garand's crucial save on Connor's shorthanded breakaway. Without Garand making that big stop, it would have been a 3-1 game instead of the game becoming tied at two shortly after.

Third Period

The Jets regained their composure during the intermission and came out ready to dominate the game again. In the first ten minutes of play, they outshot the Rangers 7-2, leaving the Blueshirts aimlessly trying to defend and keep the puck out of the middle of their zone.

The Rangers struggled to break out of the zone as the Jets consistently thwarted their rushes in the neutral zone. Garand decided to help his defensemen by playing the puck behind the net and along the boards to Brodzinski. The Rangers once again lost the puck in the neutral zone, but Brodzinski eventually regained it on a lead pass, enabling him to skate into the Jets' zone alone. However, realizing he didn't have the angle toward the net, he took a long shot that Comrie easily covered, which was only the Rangers' third shot of the period in nearly eleven minutes of play.

Thirteen minutes into the third, neither team has taken the lead, but Winnipeg would get the first power play of the period after Robertson high-sticked Connor by the net. The power play started off harmlessly, with Garand making a couple of routine saves on shots from the perimeter. The Rangers had a chance of their own as Trocheck got ahold of the puck high in the zone and skated toward the Jets' zone. Multiple Winnipeg players backchecked and pressured Trocheck; he tried to dangle through double coverage and almost pulled it off, but the play was broken up.

As the power play was ending, the Jets got their best chance, with Scheifele, Perfetti, and Connor connecting, forcing Garand into a save. Garand stretched out to cover the puck, and the Jets crashed the net. Will Cuylle and the rest of the Rangers' penalty kill took offense to Scheifele and Perfetti helping themselves to Garand, and players were shoved back and forth. We cut to a television break as the camera panned to a very discombobulated Scheifele, who was complaining to the officials about the punishment he just took.

With three minutes left in the period, Trocheck made a risky play and cut through the middle of the neutral zone. He had his pocket picked and Connor and Scheifele were quickly off on an odd man rush toward Garand. Connor stickhandling as he approached the net, moved to his backhand and tried to put it up high but missed the net as he was pressured wide by the backchecking Rangers.

The last thirty seconds of the game, the Rangers were applying pressure in the Jets' zone. Winnipeg was scrambling as Perreault, Lafrenière and Zibanejad were connecting and getting dangerous chances. With mere seconds on the clock Lafrenière was stopped at the doorstep and the Blueshirts were trying to follow up on his rebound. The buzzer sounded just as they were getting the puck back to the net. Dylan Garand's first game was heading to overtime.

Overtime

The Rangers started with Lafrenière, Zibanejad, and Fox on the ice. The two forwards had a great chance, but Zibanejad just missed with his centering pass, and the Rangers made a line change. Soon after, Scheifele had the puck, and with only J.T. Miller in front of him, there was collective concern that this might be the end. Luckily, the rest of the Rangers got back, and nothing came of it. During that shift, Scheifele took a penalty after Gavrikov was arguably interfered with. The camera panned to the Winnipeg bench, where former Rangers assistant coach Scott Arniel was furiously shouting at the questionable call. The Rangers called a timeout, but it was soon revealed that this wasn't requested by Sullivan; the officials misunderstood their intention.

The Rangers cycled the puck around during the power play, trying to get it down low and find the open man to take a shot on an unprepared Comrie. They struggled to hit the net, and Scheifele came out of the penalty box. Right after this, J.T. Miller had another chance deep in the Jets zone, but he whiffed, and the play returned to the Rangers' zone. In this sequence, Lafrenière took a hooking penalty on Scheifele, and the Jets cycled the puck during the delayed penalty. The Rangers finally gained possession, officially forcing a power play for the last eleven seconds of overtime. Trocheck lost the face-off, leading to a moment of panic as Winnipeg cycled the puck, but this game would go to a shootout.

Trocheck was the first shooter since the Rangers were going first. He skated wide and then cut back into the middle. He held the puck in front of him as he approached Comrie, trying to tuck it past him, but Comrie kicked out his leg to block the shot.

The first attempt for the Jets would be Kyle Connor. He started slowly and then promptly sped up, shooting early through Garand's five-hole to put the Jets on the board first. Miller, the second player for the Rangers, also started slowly, he tried to deke past Comrie and flip it over him, but ultimately missed, setting up Vilardi to potentially win the game for the Jets. Vilardi rushed in quickly, slightly pivoted in the slot, and sent the puck low past Garand's glove for the game-winning goal.

A loss in your NHL debut is never the desirable outcome, especially for a goalie. But there's no reason for Garand to be ashamed; he stood tall, made 35 saves, and kept the Rangers in the game, even when the Jets had multiple high-danger chances to extend their lead. Garand proved to the Rangers' coaching staff that he can be trusted, and with the youth movement and retool in full effect, he should get another opportunity to earn his first NHL win soon.