NHL roundup: Rangers stay unbeaten at home with 5-2 win over Ducks

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean Durzi scored 78 seconds in, Dylan Garand made 29 saves, and the New York Rangers defeated the travel-weary Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Monday night to improve to 6-0-0 at home this fall.

The Rangers did not pick up their sixth victory at Madison Square Garden last season until Jan. 26, their 23rd game there. They lost 27 of 41 at home on the way to missing the playoffs and finishing last in the Eastern Conference.

There is hope of a turnaround given this start, even missing franchise goaltender Igor Shesterkin for the rest of the season. Garand was making a fifth consecutive start since Shesterkin went down, and he has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of 10 NHL appearances dating to his debut last spring.

He got support early and often, with Durzi’s goal making it three home games in a row where the Rangers have a goal in the first two minutes. That has only happened once before for New York, in March 1989.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, captain J.T. Miller and Gabe Perreault each had a goal, and Alexis Lafrenière recorded two assists. Pavel Dorofeyev, the team’s most notable trade acquisition over the summer, came close on several occasions but remained stuck on two goals for the season.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:

FLYERS 3 AVALANCHE 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matvei Michkov scored two goals and Philadelphia beat Colorado for its second straight victory after opening the season with nine consecutive losses.

Michkov leads the Flyers with six goals this season. Noel Acciari also scored for Philadelphia, which lost six games in regulation and three in overtime or shootouts before breaking through on Saturday with a victory over Ottawa.

Joseph Woll made 24 saves for his first victory with the Flyers. He spent the previous five seasons with Toronto.

Martin Necas and rookie T.J. Hughes scored for the Avalanche (5-3-1), last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 21 shots.

Cole Knuble made his NHL debut for the Flyers, the team he grew up rooting for. His father, Mike, played for Philadelphia from 2005-09 and in 2013. The 22-year-old right-winger had 13 minutes, 44 seconds of ice time.

Mitchkov scored on a power play at 7:41 of the first period and made it 2-0 at 12:23 of the second when he skated around the net and fired a long-range wrist shot past several players that beat Blackwood on the glove side.

MAPLE LEAFS 3 SHARKS 1

TORONTO (AP) — Rookie Gavin McKenna scored the go-ahead goal on a third-period power play and Toronto snapped a three-game slide with a victory over San Jose.

Auston Matthews added a goal and two assists for Toronto. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves to pick up his first home win for the Maple Leafs. Nick Paul added an empty-netter.

Mason Marchment scored for San Jose, which got 28 stops from Yaroslav Askarov.

The game featured the first meeting between the No. 1 and 2 picks of the 2026 NHL draft — McKenna and Sharks winger Ivar Stenberg.

Marchment opened the scoring at 13:54 of the first when he was left alone in front of Bobrovsky after Matthews turned the puck over in the defensive zone.

Matthews made up for that mistake and got his team even with 12 seconds left in the second on a power play. Toronto’s captain took a pass from Kirill Marchenko and ripped a shot upstairs on Askarov before McKenna pushed the Leafs in front in the third.

MAMMOTH 5 PENGUINS 4

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Clayton Keller, Kevin Stenlund, Nate Schmidt and Nick Schmaltz all tallied a goal and an assist to help Utah beat Pittsburgh.

Kailer Yamamoto added a goal, and Sebastian Cossa had 15 stops for Utah.

Erik Karlsson, Richard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, and Declan Carlile each scored for Pittsburgh. Bryan Rust assisted on two goals. Arturs Silovs made 24 saves.

Karlsson’s deflected power-play goal put the Penguins on the board just 71 seconds into the game.

Keller levelled the score with a backhand at 6:00 of the first with his third goal in three games. Lawson Crouse snagged the puck near the boards and redirected it around Karlsson’s leg to Keller between the circles.

Stenlund tapped in the puck from close range with 9:50 left in the first to give the Mammoth their first lead.

Rakell tied it up on another power-play goal at 7:01 of the second, flicking in a wrist shot near the left post.

Utah surged back in front with a pair of goals late in the second. Schmidt reclaimed the lead with 8:16 to go, blasting a slapshot home from near the blue line. Yamamoto tipped in the puck from the low slot with 5:20 left to extend the lead.

Schmaltz’s power-play goal made it 5-2 for Utah at 1:36 of the third. Silovs denied his initial shot, but Schmaltz threaded a backhand around the goalie’s left leg on his second effort.

The Associated Press