Bjorkstrand, 4th line breakthrough among key takeaways in 5-2 Rangers win over Ducks

The New York Rangers are getting pretty darn good at this winning on home ice thing. They did it again Monday night at Madison Square Garden, dispatching the Anaheim Ducks with a 5-2 victory to remain perfect at home through six games.

It’s the third time in franchise history the Rangers started out 6-0-0 at MSG, and this run is now tied for second longest all-time by the Blueshirts and is two shy of tying the best home start ever in their history.

To further showcase their home dominace so far in 2026-27, there’s this nugget: the Rangers haven’t trailed for even one second at MSG. They’ve scored first in all six games and never once fell behind at any point. In 360 minutes of hockey at The Garden, the Rangers led for a touch more than 300 minutes, and were tied the remainder of the time.

On Monday, the Rangers (7-3-1) raced to a 1-0 lead, scoring yet again in the opening couple of minutes on home ice. Sean Durzi scored at 1:18 of the first period, and the Rangers put the game away with three unanswered goals in the middle stanza to carry a 4-0 lead into the second intermission.

They’ve now outscored the opposition 29-10 at The Garden and scored at least four goals in all six games.

Oliver Bjorsktrand had his second two-goal game this season at MSG, J.T. Miller netted a power-play goal, and Gabe Perreault scored off one of the prettiest set-ups you’ll see all season, courtesy of Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad.

The Rangers needed a win like this, not only to keep the great vibes going at home, but because they came in on their first mini skid of the season (0-1-1) with two straight road defeats. Plus, they play two straight on the road later this week at the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, and are 1-3-1 in five away games this season.

Key takeaways after Rangers win again at home, 5-2 over Ducks

Dylan Garand is a star again

For the second time in as many games, Dylan Garand stopped the first 28 shots he faced before getting beat on the 29th. Unlike Saturday, when that 29th shot was an overtime winner for Kent Johnson and the Columbus Blues Jackets in a 1-0 Rangers loss, a late goal by the Ducks simply ended Garand’s bid for his second NHL shutout, but nothing worse.

In fact, the Ducks scored on two shots in a row — with Nick Jensen hammering a shot past Garand with 1:09 left in the third period, and A.J. Greer banking one off the Rangers goalie from behind the Rangers goalie 36 seconds later.

Again, it meant nothing really. Garand finished with 29 saves, and earned Third Star honors — he’s now been named one of the game’s three stars in six of his first nine NHL games, dating back to his debut last season.

The 24-year-old was at his best in the first period Monday, stopping all 14 shots he faced, before the Rangers blew this one open in the second period. Yet again, Garand tracked the puck well, battled through traffic in front, and was exceptionally sharp, improving to 6-1-2 in nine career starts.

Get to the net

It clearly was a conscious effort by the Rangers to get to the net Monday. That’s in get bodies to the net and get pucks to the net. They did both really well, and that paid immediate dividends.

Just 78 seconds into the game, Miller skated hard to the net, bumping a Ducks defenseman into goalie Ville Husso, knocking the netminder off balance. Then Miller parked himself atop the blue paint to screen Husso, when Durzi let fly with a long shot that wound up in the back of the net.

Get a body to the net, and get the puck to the net. It’s a real good strategy. Miller and Durzi clearly got the message. So did the rest of the team. The Rangers had 26 shot attempts in the first period, firing from all over. Then in the second period, the Rangers generated 14 scoring chances 5v5, including 10 high-danger ones, per Natural Stat Trick. On the first two of their three goals in the second, they got a body to the net — first when Miller’s power-play deflection in front made it 2-0 at 4:38, and again on Perreault’s slam dunk from the doorstep to finish a gorgeous passing sequence.

First and second for the fourth

After being held off the score sheet in the first 10 games of the season, New York’s fourth line finally broke though in Game 11 on Monday. Bjorkstrand was in the right place at the right time when, under pressure from fourth-line center Justin Dowling, Anaheim defenseman Noah Warren threw a blind pass right in the middle of the ice. Bjorkstrand picked it off, skated in, and wired a shot over Husso’s glove to make it 4-0 Rangers at 13:14 of the second period.

Then Bjorkstrand, later named the First Star of the game, scored again 3:26 into the third period to make it 5-0 after the Ducks turned it over in the neutral zone. The 31-year-old split the defense after taking a pass from Taylor Raddysh and beat Husso glove side again. So, make that two fourth-line goals after a 10-game drought.

Bjorkstrand has four goals this season, though these were his first two on the fourth line. He scored a pair against the Islanders on Oct. 6 — one on the power play, the other on a mixed line change. This was the 23rd time he scored two goals in a game, but he’s still looking for his first NHL hat trick.

It’s worth noting that the Rangers Daily here at Forever Blueshirts featured a piece Monday on the conundrum of how to get Bjorkstrand more opportunities and ice time, which he’s earned. Yes, that’s called patting one’s self on the back.

Dam about to burst for Dorofeyev

Perhaps some of Bjorkstrand’s good fortune can rub off on teammate Pavel Dorofeyev. The snake-bit 25-year-old sniper led the Rangers with five shots on goal and 10 shot attempts against the Ducks. And despite getting to prime scoring areas and numerous Grade-A chances, Dorofeyev failed to score a goal again.

He’s sitting on two goals this season — one at even strength, one on the power play. This was the most consistently active and noticeable in the offensive zone Dorofeyev’s been all season. You noticed him on the ice because he had the puck a lot. In the first period, he missed a wide open net and rang a shot off the post during a 5-on-3 power play, and a few minutes later was absolutely robbed point-blank by Husso at even strength. He put more shots on goal in the second period, including a pair of back-handers in close that Husso denied.

It appeared Dorofeyev was frustrated the more toften he failed to capitalize on his chances. But the dam’s going to burst for him soon enough if the guy who scored 72 goals the past two seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights keeps going with efforts like this one.

It should be noted, however, that Dorofeyev lost his spot on the top power-play unit in the second period because he extended his shifts too long on the previous ones in the first period, per coach Mike Sullivan. Perreault replaced him on PP1.

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