Rangers Ground the Lightning Again

By Daniel Feuerstein | New York, NY | October 13th, 2026

The New York Rangers headed back to Madison Square Garden as they extended a four-game home winning streak into a five-game home winning streak. The first game at home was against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and once again the Lightning returned to the scene of the crime and got stopped again by this Rangers team that’s off to a great start. They got the early goal of the game; hard-hitting and strong defense with timely goals are making the Rangers a scary team to play against. After the final horn sounded, it was another home victory, as the final score was 5-2.

Lafreniere scores another pair

It’s been a good start to the season for Alexis Lafreniere as he continues his hot scoring in these first eight games of the new season. Scored a hat trick against the New York Islanders and got one on Sunday night when the Vancouver Canucks came to town. But since joining the line with J.T. Miller and Tye Kartye, he’s been torching the net with ease. On his first goal, Adam Fox dumped the puck down the far side, and Tye Kartye skated hard to retrieve it. When the play was going towards the net, Kartye skated behind the net along the end boards and tried to stuff the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy. The stuff shot was blocked, but Lafreniere was in front to snap one in at 1:02 of the first period.

On his second goal of the night, it was a magical play that many thought should make the highlight reel, as it had a good start, a big middle, and a fantastic finish. The puck was inside the Rangers’ zone along the far boards. Digging in out of the Lightning’s possession was J.T. Miller, and he found Kartye inside the slot. As soon as Lafreniere was making a break for the other net, Kartye did a backhand shovel pass that made the puck loop in the air and land perfectly on Lafreniere’s stick blade. Once he got possession of the puck, Lafreniere got towards the net, made a quick wrist shot that pinged off the crossbar and past Vasilevskiy at 12:47 of the first period.

Will Cuylle on a two-game goal-scoring streak

After getting a pair of goals himself on Sunday night, Will Cuylle wanted one of his own and to bring the lead back to two after Zemgus Girgensons pulled one back towards the end of the first period. The Rangers were trying to muck around and find a way to take the puck from the Lightning. When it finally happened, Noah Laba was down low along the far corner and passed it back to the far point to Marcus Pettersson. A quick cross-ice pass to Sean Durzi, who ripped it, and inside the slot, Cuylle redirected the puck off his blade and past Vasilevskiy at 18:26 of the second period.

Garand shuts it down, and an empty-netter

Throughout the third period, it was the Dylan Garand show. Every time the Lightning challenged him and looked to pull a goal back, Garand was right there in perfect position to make the pad saves, the glove saves, and the blocker saves. For the second consecutive time, Garand came up big and helped the Rangers ride into the victory. Made 25 saves out of 26 shots on goal, and after making some strong glove saves, the Garden crows started to chant Dylan’s name as he has made it as a New York Ranger. But the Rangers also got that final nail in the coffin as Mika Zibanejad stole the puck from a defender, skated towards the blue line, and softly lifted the puck that went right into the empty net during the Lightning’s power play for a shorthanded empty-net goal at 17:16 of the third period while the Lightning had an extra attacker.

Mike Sullivan’s comments on Dylan Garand’s first two games as the full-time starter

“I’m thrilled for Dylan. You know, he’s a great kid. He works extremely hard. You know, he made some timely saves for us. I’m proud of the group in front of them; I think they’re competing hard. They’re doing a really good job at limiting not only the quantity but, maybe more importantly, the quality of the looks, and so I think that’s helping our goaltenders as well. But give Dylan credit; he played extremely well for us, and he’s making timely saves.”

Believing Garand should’ve originally made the team

When Garand was given the call-up from the Rangers towards the final months of last season, Garand played a few times and earned a few wins. While there was always going to be competition for the backup spot this season during training camp, it was the Rangers’ decision to give Joonas Korpisalo the job and send Garand back down to Hartford to start the season. I felt Garand should’ve had the job right away, but the Rangers were lucky that he cleared waivers and went back down to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League.

Once Korpisalo was listed as injured, the Rangers quickly snatched him back up to be the backup until Korpisalo was healthy, until the terrible night down in our Nation’s Capital with the lower-body injury to Igor Shesterkin that was announced he would be done for the rest of the season. Now Garand has three wins this season, with a shutout in Detroit and two straight wins. While we don’t know if this Rangers team will make the playoffs, I have a good feeling that Garand will surprise everyone in the NHL, and he will save the season. Can they make the playoffs? I’m not sure at this time. If they do make the playoffs, can they go on a run? That’s a bigger question when we get to the end of the regular season. But for now, support Dylan Garand, as he is the one who is doing an excellent job playing his backside off and holding the fort till Igor returns next season.

“I think we’re really starting to establish an identity in what Rangers hockey looks like when we’re at our best, and it starts from our willingness and commitment to check, and I think to a man. Our guys are committed there. It’s five-man participation, you know, and I think these guys just value playing away from the puck and the importance of it if we’re going to give ourselves the best chance to win night in and night out. You know, we played a pretty good team tonight, and I thought we competed pretty hard,” said Mike Sullivan

FIVE FOR FIVE: The Rangers have gone undefeated in their first five games at home to start the season. It is the third time in franchise history they have done so, following 1990-91 (8-0-0) and 1983 (6-0-0). Their five-game home win streak is the longest active in the NHL.

RANKING HIGH: With six wins this season, New York is tied for the league lead. The team’s 12 points and 1.75 goals against per game both rank second in the NHL, and their 27 goals scored rank third.

ONE OR FEWER: The Blueshirts have allowed one or fewer goals in a game for the third time this season, tied for the most games in the league.

PENALTY KILLERS: New York went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill tonight, their third straight game with a perfect kill. They are 22-for-24 on the penalty kill this season, ranking fifth in the league with a 91.7% penalty-kill percentage.

ALEXIS LAFRENIERE: Scored the game’s opening goal 1:02 into the game and notched his second multi-goal game of the season. He extended his goal streak to four straight games, the second-longest active streak in the NHL and the longest such streak of his career. Lafrenière finished tonight’s game tied for second in the NHL with seven goals.

DYLAN GARAND: Has earned a win in back-to-back games and in all three starts this season. Having now started in six games, he matched Igor Shesterkin (5-1-0) and Cam Talbot (5-1-0) for the fewest starts by a goaltender to five career wins with the Rangers. Garand is tied for fifth in the NHL with three wins. Among all goaltenders with at least four starts, his 1.15 goals-against average and .951 save percentage both rank second in the league.

MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Notched his 16th career shorthanded goal and 14th with New York, tying Don Maloney for the fourth-most shorthanded goals in franchise history. Among all Swedish players, he is tied for the sixth-most shorthanded goals in NHL history.

ADAM FOX: Extended his point streak at home to five-straight games, the longest such streak in the league. He became the sixth player in Rangers history to record a season-opening assist streak of five or more games at home. Among all NHL defensemen this season, he is tied for the lead with seven assists and is tied for third with seven points.

WILL CUYLLE: Has scored at least one goal in back-to-back games. He registered a career single-game high of 11 hits, which is the most tallied by a player in a single game this season in the NHL. Among all NHL skaters, his 37 hits this season lead the league, and his 889 hits since the 2023-24 season rank second.

J.T. MILLER: Extended his point streak to five straight games (1G-5A) and his assist streak to four straight games, tied for the third-longest active streak in the NHL.

TYE KARTYE: Has notched two points in back-to-back games (2G-2A)

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