Dylan Garand made 29 saves in 63 minutes and 58 seconds against Columbus on Saturday. Basically a full hockey game without letting the Blue Jackets score. He let in exactly one, and it came in overtime. The Rangers still lost 1-0.
Nights like that are supposed to win you a hockey game.
It didn’t, because the Rangers went 0-for-3 on the power play and had almost nothing to show for it. Beat writer Peter Baugh tracked it live — barely any offense through two periods, and it never improved:
END 2: The Rangers and Blue Jackets are tied 0-0. Dylan Garand has made some big saves. Not a whole lot going offensively for either team.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) October 18, 2026
Five shots across six minutes with the man advantage. Call that whatever you want. A power play it was not. Even the Blue Seats podcast called Garand’s game brilliant and admitted the offense left him stranded:
Garand was BRILLIANT tonight! A beautiful bounce back game from him!
Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t generate enough, as the Rangers lose to the Blue Jackets in OT 1-0.
Definitely a tough one, but hey, take the point and move on!
Back at it on Monday at MSG against…
— From The Blue Seats: A New York Rangers Podcast (@blueseats94) October 18, 2026
The penalty kill has carried this team early; the power play hasn’t. Vince Mercogliano put it gently, noting the unit “still feels like they’re searching for something and not quite in rhythm” — which is a nice way of describing a group that can’t finish anything:
#NYR PK has been arguably their biggest strength to start the season, but the power play remains a work in progress. PP1 had a couple good looks on that latest opportunity, but it still feels like they’re searching for something and not quite in rhythm.
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 18, 2026
The New York Post summed up the whole night in one headline:
Dylan Garand bounces back – but Rangers offense is no help in OT loss to Blue Jackets https://t.co/eb3JfaCXSw pic.twitter.com/WNMbQgRZJH
— New York Post (@nypost) October 18, 2026
Two nights earlier, this problem wasn’t new: New Jersey scored four goals in five minutes and buried the Rangers 7-1. Different goalie, same disease — the forwards aren’t scoring enough to make any of this matter.
Rangers are 6-3-1, 5-0-0 at home and just 1-3-0 on the road. Second place in the Metro. Looks GREAT on paper.
It’s also ten games into a 23-year-old rookie’s season, and he’s being handed a workload that would make Shesterkin nervous because the guys in front of him can’t finish a chance. Garand can’t stop every single thing forever. Somebody else needs to start scoring before he has to try.
