Yes, Dylan Garand was sensational and deserved a better fate than the one he got when the New York Rangers lost 1-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime Saturday at Nationwide Arena. But that doesn’t mean his teammates didn’t answer the bell 48 hours after their most shoddy performance of the season.
The Rangers (6-3-1) indeed got the memo that their effort and overall performance needed to be much better Saturday than it was Thursday in an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils. As such, they competed hard throughout this one, and played a connected game. There was no collapse in Columbus, though ultimately there was still a loss.
It wasn’t perfect, of course. There were breakdowns defensively, missed opportunities offensively, and three failed power plays in the the third period of a scoreless game. The Rangers were shut out for the second time this season and they fell to 1-3-1 on the road.
But they competed, picked up a point in the standings, and most definitely could have — and likely should have — secured the second point. Certainly, Garand deserved as much, after stopping 28 of 29 shots one game after being pulled for the first time in the NHL, when he allowed four goals on 13 shots in 24:39 of game action against the Devils.
Garand was New York’s best penalty killer, but the entire unit was solid and clutch killing off all three Columbus power plays. That included one at 19:27 of the third period which carried into overtime.
Despite killing off that Will Cuylle interference minor, the Rangers couldn’t finish the job. Kent Johnson buried a slick cross-ice feed from Zach Werenski at 3:26 of overtime to hand Garand and Co. a bitter defeat.
KENT JOHNSON WITH THE ONE-TIME BLAST TO WIN IT IN OVERTIME FOR COLUMBUS 🚀🚨 pic.twitter.com/TA9lDIsltS
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 18, 2026
“I thought it was a really hard-fought game,” captain J.T. Millersaid postgame. “The chances were greasy ones. There weren’t a lot of big ones. We’re proud of the way we responded.”
Credit the Blue Jackets here, as well. They, too, answered the bell Saturday after being torched by coach Rick Bowness for their terrible effort and grossly subpar play in a 7-3 loss to the Florida Panthers earlier in the week. Instead of curling up in the fetal position, the Blue Jackets played their best game of the season.
And the Rangers largely met that challenge. But they lost, and now carry their first winless streak (0-1-1) of the season into a game against Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
Key takeaways from Rangers’ 1-0 overtime loss to Blue Jackets
Garand proves his mettle
If there was any question about what Garand is made of, the 24-year-old goalie shut down any doubts with a simply terrific bounce-back performance in Columbus. With no margin for error, Garand stopped all seven shots in the first period, 10 in the second, and nine more in the third period. He added a pair of game-savers against Johnson and Sean Monohan during that penalty kill to start overtime, before a quick-passing play and one-time blast from the right circle finally eluded him in the late stages of OT.
You got a look into how much of a competitor Garand is, though. He was so dialed in, right from the get-go when he aggressively challenged Adam Fantill minutes into the first period to make a sharp pad save. The Rangers young goalie absolutely owned Fantilli on Saturday, make one outstanding save after another against the Blue Jackets star forward, who had quite a night himself.
Mostly, Garand set himself quickly and was well-positioned to deny scoring chances for Columbus. But he was acrobatic when needed, as well, including sprawling save along the goal line, when he swatted away a seemingly sure-fire goal by Cole Sillinger at 13:22 of the third period.
You actually learn more about the make up of a young player with how he responds to adversity than if he’s always riding high. As such, Garand proved quite a bit Saturday night.
Perreault sparked by reunion
Coach Mike Sullivan reunited the top line of Mika Zibanejad centering for Gabe Perreault and Alexis Lafreniere. But only one of the trio found traction offensively and appeared juiced by the reunion.
Perreault led the Rangers with a season-high six shots on goal and nine attempts. Late in the second period he almost singlehandedly got the Rangers on the scoreboard, with a pair of nifty chances he created in-close that were denied by Jet Greaves, who turned in a very solid showing in goal for the Blue Jackets.
But that Zibanejad line finished with an expected goal share of just 37.67 percent 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick, worst among the four Rangers line combinations. Zibanejed had one shot on goal despite logging nearly 25 minutes of ice time, and Lafreniere didn’t manage a single shot on goal as his six-game point streak also came to an end.
Adding to a frustrating night, Perreault ended up minus-one since he hopped on the ice to replace Lafreniere seconds before the Blue Jackets scored the overtime winner.
Special frustration
New York’s penalty kill continued to be outstanding. The 3-for-3 performance Saturday makes them perfect in their last 15 time short-handed covering their past five games. And the Rangers have allowed only two power-play goals in 10 games this season.
Pretty darn good.
But if the PK helped keep the Rangers alive in this one, it was their power play that was a big reason they lost. Against one of the League’s worst penalty-killing teams — one that allowed four PPGs against the Panthers on Tuesday — the Rangers came up empty on three opportunities. In a scoreless game, that’s a big deal.
The Rangers totaled four shots and surrendered a prime scoring chance on a short-handed rush by Werenski on those three power plays in the third period. Fantilli took a penalty 18 seconds into the period, and Columbus followed with two more at 4:17 and 9:29. Oliver Bjorkstrand did ring the crossbar at 5:29, but that was all there was to be excited about. Even setting up Zibanejad in his prime spot for the left-circle one-timer did nothing for the Rangers since he hammered a shot high and wide of the cage.
Their power play has been fine so far this season, just not great nor a real game-changer yet. And when they needed it most to come through Saturday with one opportunity after another in the final period of regulation, the Rangers didn’t come nearly close enough to getting the job done.
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