Coming off a bad loss to the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers were back in action on Saturday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Despite having a strong start to the season, the Rangers had their first really poor outing of the year against the Devils on Thursday. New York has played very well overall this season, but it was a bad showing for the team in the blowout loss.
To kick things off, the first period was a bit on the quiet side for each team. Neither team was able to reach double-figures in shots, but it was the Rangers who had a bit more pressure.
In the first half of the second period, the Blue Jackets got some good pressure on the Rangers, but it was Garand who was able to stop some good looks by Columbus. Seeing a good showing from the young goalie was important for the team early on, and he came through with a solid performance.
New York was able to respond with some good looks of their own, but was ultimately held scoreless.
Through two periods, the Rangers’ penalty kill was able to kill off two power plays. This unit has been a strong one for the team, and in a tight game like this, the good performance was important.
To start the third period, New York had their first power play opportunity, but came up empty. Following this power play, the Rangers had two more opportunities on the man-advantage, but came up empty.
The power play was a great strength of the team last season, but the top unit for New York has struggled to get the job done this year. At the end of the third period, the Rangers took a penalty and had to once again go on the penalty kill to end the third period and went into overtime. New York getting a point was certainly good, especially with some of their struggles on the road to start the year.
In overtime, the Rangers were able to kill off the penalty. However, the Blue Jackets did ultimately get one past Garand with a goal coming from Kent Johnson with the assists going to Zach Werenski and Charlie Coyle.
It was a pretty even game for both sides, but the Blue Jackets came away with the two points. New York getting the point on the road was good, but it would have been nice to come away with a win in a game Garand played so well in.
Next up for the Rangers, they will be back at home on Monday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
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