Garand makes 29 saves, Rangers defeat Ducks to stay undefeated at home

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers stayed perfect at home this season by defeating the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

The Rangers (7-3-1) have won six consecutive home games (6-0-0) to start the season for the first time since 1990-91, when they won their first eight games at the Garden. They didn't win their sixth home game last season until Jan. 26. 

"Obviously, we struggled last year at home," forward Alexis Lafreniere, who had two assists, said. "It's good to have the start we're having this year. I think it helps us that the building is electric. It's always the best. We'll try to keep it going."

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals, Sean Durzi, J.T. Miller and Gabe Perreault each had one and Dylan Garand made 29 saves for the Rangers. He has allowed two or fewer goals in five of six starts this season and eight of nine in his NHL career.

Garand took over as the Rangers' No. 1 goalie since Igor Shesterkin went down with a season-ending, lower-body injury on Oct. 9.

"I've been asked the question a number of times, what do we expect from Dylan? And my expectation, just based on his body of work here, is that he's going to win, he's going to make saves for us, he's going to make timely saves," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's given us a chance to win night in and night out, and that's what we're asking of him."

Anaheim (4-4-0) lost its third straight game since winning four of five to start the season. Nick Jensen and A.J. Greer scored 36 seconds apart late in the third period, and Ville Husso made 25 saves for the Ducks.

"I thought our top guys weren’t very good tonight," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "You could name them all and you probably wouldn't be happy.

"It was flattering, the score at the end of the night."

The Ducks were delayed getting to New York on Sunday because of plane maintenance that led to a 15-hour travel day with a three-hour time difference thrown into the mix. They didn't arrive at their hotel until 2:30 a.m. Monday.

"I've been on the other side when you're coming through this segue of teams here across the coast, it's tough," said Durzi, who previously played in Los Angeles, Arizona and Utah. "Knowing that now, being on this side, having that experience, starts are huge. I think starts all year have been pretty good for us all year, especially at home, and then it's staying on top of them."

The Rangers jumped on their road-weary opponent early with Durzi scoring with a snap shot from the point through traffic at 1:18 of the first period to give New York a 1-0 lead. 

The Rangers have scored in the opening two minutes in three consecutive home games for the second time in team history. They also did it from March 15-22 in 1989.

"Disappointing more than anything," Quenneville said of Anaheim's slow start. "We didn't have much. When I say that, it's possession of the puck, play recognition, second battles or whatever. They played well, but we didn't really have anything that was dangerous to look like we had any chance of getting back in the game. That was (a) tough one."

Miller extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 4:38 of the second period. He set up in front and deflected Adam Fox's wrist shot from the point.

Perreault made it 3-0 at 10:17, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing sequence that started with Durzi's forecheck down the right-wing wall. 

"That was an easy one," Perreault said.

Lafreniere supported Durzi from behind, got the puck and went around Beckett Sennecke before whipping a backhand pass from the right circle to Mika Zibanejad in the left circle. Zibanejad one-touched a pass to Perreault at the right post, who settled the puck and scored.

"I have that support, it allows me to be aggressive," Durzi said. "It allows him to pick off a pass and that line, you see their skill take over."

Bjorkstrand made it 4-0 less than three minutes later when he intercepted Sennecke's backhand pass into the middle of the Ducks' defensive zone, went in alone on Husso and scored at 13:14.

He tallied again, this time with a snap shot through the legs of Husso off a pass from Taylor Raddysh, to make it 5-0 at 3:26 of the third period.

"He can really shoot it," Sullivan said of Bjorkstrand. "His two goals tonight, they looked exactly the same, bar down. He's got a great release."

Jensen broke Garand's shutout bid at 18:51 to make it 5-1 with a slap shot over Garand's stick from the slot, and Greer was credited with a goal that went in off the goaltender at 19:27 for the 5-2 final.

"I do think our guys have a pretty clear understanding of what winning hockey looks like for our team," Sullivan said, "and when you have that understanding as a group, that's when you're starting to establish an identity in the true sense of the word."

NOTES: Jensen made his season debut for the Ducks. … Mikael Granlund returned for Anaheim after missing one game with an upper-body injury. He had two shots on goal and was a minus-2 in 16:08 of ice time.