By Daniel Feuerstein | New York, NY | November 3rd, 2026
The New York Rangers returned to Madison Square Garden as head coach Mike Sullivan shook up the lineup and rotated some of his players to create new forward lines and be a bit more dynamic when the St. Louis Blues came to play. The Rangers did much better overall; they never gave up the first goal of the game and played a much better defensive game to take advantage. When the final buzzer sounded, the Rangers got back into the win column and skated back to their locker room in celebration as they defeated the Blues by the final score of 3-1.
Dylan Garand got his game back
After having several games of poor defending and, at times, some poor goaltending, Dylan Garand got back on his game and was back to his old self, making big glove saves, pad saves, and miracle saves that got his first name chanting inside Madison Square Garden. All game long, he stood on his head and made sure the Blues never got a chance to beat him till inside the final minute of the third period; he couldn’t stop one shot as the puck hit his left pad just above his skate and slowly bounced inside the net. But he stopped 32 out of 33 shots to get the win and break the losing streak.
The Rangers finally score first
After a scoreless first period, the Rangers wanted to keep playing their game and break out on the scoreboard. They finally got the opening goal when J.T. Miller picked up the puck at the end line and started to skate out, but made a hard pass in center ice to Tye Kartye and skated down the middle. As he entered the Blues’ zone, Kartye got inside the near faceoff circle and hit the brakes. He turned around, watching and waiting for Adam Fox trailing the play, gave him the puck, and when Fox was at the top of the slot, he snapped a shot over the glove of Joel Hofer and scored at 1:49 of the second period.
Tic-Tac-Toe for the second
The Blues were trying to get a rush started from their own end and got the puck at the far boards. As most of the players on the ice were already in attack mode, Will Cuylle did an excellent job of using his stick to steal the puck off the blade and went into a quick attacking rush. As he got down low along the near side, he made a quick cross-ice pass to Eeli Tolvanen, who quickly made a back pass to Oliver Bjorkstrand in the slot, and was able to sweep it in as Hofer gave up the net trying to defend Tolvanen and scored his sixth of the season at 9:04 of the third period.
Empty net and the win
The Rangers continued to play a strong defensive game inside their zone. When the Blues pulled Hofer for the extra attacker, they tried to cut the deficit back to one. But once again the Rangers were able to skate out with the puck after a few stick checks, and when Miller made the quick pass to Tolvanen, he shot it into the empty net and ended the game at 17:59 of the third period. The final buzzer sounded, and the Rangers celebrated by skating toward center ice and lifting their sticks in celebration.
“I thought it was a complete effort, and that’s what it takes to have success in this league. You know, I thought there were times when St.Louis had momentum, but I thought we defended hard, and we got some big saves from Dylan. You know, and there were times when we had momentum, and we were playing on top of them. So I thought it was a good hockey game. I thought they had a really solid game for us,” said Mike Sullivan
GARDEN VIBES: The Rangers are tied for the league lead with seven wins and 14 points at home this season. Their 36 goals scored at home rank third in the NHL and their 2.33 goals-against per game played at home ranks sixth.
PENALTY KILLERS: The Rangers went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill against the Blues and registered a perfect kill for the 11th time this season, tied for the second-most games by a team in the league. Their 90.4 penalty kill percentage this season leads the league.
THREE OR MORE: New York leads the league with eight games this season having scored at least three goals in a game at The Garden.
DYLAN GARAND: Earned his fifth win of the season and posted a single-game season-high of 32 saves tonight. Among all goaltenders to have appeared in at least five games at home this season, his 1.97 goals-against average ranks second in the league and his .927 save percentage ranks third.
ADAM FOX: Scored the first goal of tonight’s game and has factored on a game-opening goal for the fourth time this season, the third-most among all NHL blueliners. His 17 assists are tied for second, and his 19 points are tied for third among all league defensemen.
EELI TOLVANEN: Notched his 100th career NHL assist, his first multi-point game of the season (1G-1A), and scored his fourth goal of the season. He sits four goals away from 100 in his career and four points away from 200 in his career. His three empty-net goals this season are tied for the league lead.
J.T. MILLER: Tallied his third multi-point game of the season (2A). His eight assists this season rank third on the Blueshirts and his 12 points are tied for third. He now sits seven assists away from 500 in his career.
OLIVER BJORKSTRAND: Scored his sixth goal of the season, the second-most on the Rangers.
Discover more from Bad Dawg Media Group
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Discover more from Bad Dawg Media Group
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
