Colin Stephenson: It's early, but the Rangers' newcomers are clicking and so is their veteran goalie
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is introduced before the home opener vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Credit: Ed Murray
The Rangers certainly jumped into the deep end of the pool to start the season, opening with three games in four nights and five games in eight. With his new-look team looking to build chemistry quickly after a short training camp and preseason, coach Mike Sullivan didn’t know if that was a good thing.
“I mean, you could look at it one or two ways,’’ he said on Wednesday in between a season-opening 3-0 loss in Boston and a back-to-back set at home against Tampa Bay on Thursday and in Detroit on Friday. “If we can build some momentum and have some success, we’re going to like it, right?’’
Well, with a sweep of the Lightning and embattled Red Wings, the Rangers are 2-1 after three games. They aren’t through the grueling stretch yet, facing games at the Garden on Sunday against former Ranger Vincent Trocheck’s Utah Mammoth and Tuesday against the Islanders. But in what could have been a sink-or-swim situation for a team with eight new players, the Blueshirts definitely are swimming.
And while three games isn’t much of a sample size, a few positive things have emerged:
First, goalie Igor Shesterkin has been sharp (both in net and as a shooter). It goes without saying that this team will need him to be his vintage self for it to have a chance to make the playoffs, and with a .935 save percentage and a 1.51 goals-against average — not to mention a goal — through his first two games, he’s been exactly that.
Second, the new second defense pair of Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson is performing as had been hoped. They have gotten more ice time than the top pair of Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov (their 42:10 of even-strength ice time together through the first three games led the league), and they’ve been the first-choice defense pair on the penalty kill.
Sniper Pavel Dorofeyev (one goal, one assist, 12 shots on goal) will shoot early and often and seems to have developed some chemistry with fellow newcomer Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Special teams have looked good. The power play is 2-for-7 (28.6%) and the penalty kill is 10-for-10.
All of that needs to continue for this team to be successful, but things are off to a promising start.
Garand aces recall debut
A week ago, goalie Dylan Garand received the bad news that had seemed inevitable throughout training camp: He was headed back to the minor leagues.
However, the Rangers recalled Garand on Thursday after Joonas Korpisalo suffered a mysterious lower-body injury. (Coach Mike Sullivan said he was unsure how or when Korpisalo was hurt and offered no further updates to reporters in Detroit on Friday.)
Garand, who needed to clear waivers before he could be sent down, made the most of his recall when he recorded 22 saves Friday behind a tired Rangers lineup to earn his first career shutout in a 2-0 win over Detroit.
“Definitely the craziest week of my life,” he told reporters after the game. “Cut on Sunday, waivers Monday, no claim, go down to Hartford, get an apartment and then two practices, and back up and playing on Friday.”
Garand, a fourth-round draft pick in 2020, played for Hartford the previous four seasons, but after a stellar showing in a three-game audition with the Rangers at the end of last season, he had hoped to win the backup job behind Igor Shesterkin this season.
The Rangers, however, traded for Korpisalo over the summer, and from Day 1 of training camp, it was clear that he was ticketed for that role. Garand was with the minor-league group the entire camp.
When they sent Garand down, the Rangers believed it was better for the 24-year-old to play as a No. 1 goalie in Hartford than as a backup in the NHL. But with Korpisalo sidelined week to week, Garand will stick around for the foreseeable future, giving him an extended look at the NHL level.
If he continues to do well, maybe it will make the organization rethink things.
Durzi denied Gordie Howe hat trick
Durzi scored the Rangers’ first goal Friday on the power play and later became the first Ranger to get into a fight this season, scrapping with Detroit’s Marco Kasper in the second period. Durzi would have secured a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, fight in the same game) if Oliver Bjorkstrand’s power-play goal hadn’t been overturned by an offside challenge.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
