DETROIT, MI— Dylan Garand was supposed to be in Hartford right about now, but just a few hours before the Rangers’ home opener last night, he was in a Rangers uniform again because Joonas Korpisalo got placed on injured reserve.
The very next night, Garand found himself in the Ranger net where he stopped all 22 shots he faced Friday night at Little Caesar’s Arena and spoiled the Red Wings’ home opener, helping his team create their first two-game winning streak of the young NHL season.
The Red Wings stripped Dylan Larkin of their team captaincy following his offseason trade request. Before tonight’s game, Larkin, who is still on the Red Wings roster, was introduced along with the other Red Wings players and booed by the Detroit crowd. When the game got underway, the Red Wings clearly missed their captain, who finished third on their team in points last season.
In the first two minutes of the game, the Red Wings endured a barrage from the visiting Blueshirts that made experienced netminder John Gibson make four saves.
At 3:38 of the first period, Detroit forward Nate Danielson took the first penalty of the game, a two-minute minor for holding, and the Rangers went to work on the power play.
The Rangers came in on an odd man rush and eventually Gabe Perreault found Sean Durzi at the tops of the circles for a one-time slap shot that beat Gibson through the legs at 5:12. It was Durzi’s first goal as a Ranger.
Durzi appeared to score a second power-play goal at 7:10 but the goal was waived off due to offsides after a challenge was made by the Red Wings coaching staff.
In the final five minutes of the first, the Red Wings came alive and former Ranger Andrew Copp nearly tied the game with a deflection of a shot by rookie Anton Johansson that rebounded off the post and into the crease behind Garand. However, the Ranger goalie found and froze the puck.
At 12:13 of the second period, Durzi fought Marco Kasper and won the fight.
To their credit, Coach Mike Sullivan’s Rangers played aggressively all night and pushed for that second goal that would put the game out of reach in the third.
Halfway through the third period, Ranger defenseman Marcus Pettersson ripped a slap shot from the point that was deflected in front of the net by Ranger forward Tye Kartye. Gibson had some trouble tracking the bouncing puck but eventually made the save.
At 18:44 of the third period, Detroit had pulled their goalie and was playing with an extra attacker. In the Ranger defensive zone, the puck was dug out from a scrum along the boards by Adam Fox, who passed to Kartye. Kartye then made a pass to Eeli Tolvanen who shot the puck into the empty net to make it 2-0. The goal was Tolvanen’s second of the season which leads the Rangers so far in 2026-27.
Detroit outshot New York 20 to 15 through two periods but were kept to two shots on goal in the third.
The Rangers improved their record to 2-1-0 and earned their first road win.
Garand is now just the eighth Rangers rookie goalie to earn his first shutout in four games or less.
Since the beginning of the 2025-26 season, the Ranger power play ranks fourth in the NHL, and has now scored in back-t0-back games. Meanwhile, the Rangers have killed off all 10 penalties they have taken this season.
The Rangers will look to make it three in a row when they take on the Utah Mammoth this Sunday at 6 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
