Rangers Grind Out a Win on Garand's Back and Cuylle's Forecheck

Dylan Garand has now played 11 straight games, and that kind of workload strains even the most durable starters. Tuesday's win over the St. Louis Blues was a good result, but it was built on a goalie who was asked to do too much. My read is that the Rangers got a useful performance and a very expensive reminder about depth.

Garand carried the load, and the workload is the real concern

Garand was excellent. He faced pressure early and often and kept the Rangers in the game through long stretches when the Blues were controlling the puck. The shutout bid fell apart with less than a minute remaining, which stung, but it doesn't erase what he did for 60 minutes.

The bigger question is why he's in this position. The organization has dealt with several goaltender injuries this season, and some of those absences were more serious than others. When the backup situation gets thin, the starter starts piling up games, and every extra start raises the risk of fatigue over the long haul. Teams in this spot usually face a choice between riding the hot hand and protecting him, and the second option tends to look smarter in hindsight. Garand has earned the trust, but the Rangers need to decide how long they can keep leaning on him before the math turns against them.

Will Cuylle at center: the experiment keeps producing mixed results

Head coach Mike Sullivan has been consistent about his belief in Will Cuylle. The talent is obvious. Cuylle has the size, the detail and the willingness to get dirty that coaches want in a bottom-six player. The problem is that the Rangers have tried to find a dependable depth center for a while now, and the search has cost them assets, cap space and roster spots along the way.

Tuesday showed both sides of that story. Cuylle took five faceoffs and didn't win one, which is a real concern for a player being asked to hold down the middle. But center is more than the dot. He made a big blocked shot, and his forecheck created a goal that looked like it came straight from a player who knows the value of pressure. That leads to an uncomfortable question. Would the same plays have shown up if he were on the wing? And does the answer even matter if the coaching staff sees a center in him?

My take is that it matters a great deal. If Cuylle's best minutes come on the wing, the Rangers should be honest about that and stop forcing the center label. If they believe he can handle the middle, the faceoff numbers need to improve, and that will take reps and a clearer plan.

The Brad Lambert detour is a reminder of what the Copp trade cost

Here's the thing that keeps nagging at the Rangers' center situation. The first-round pick the Rangers sent to Winnipeg as part of the Andrew Copp trade became live when a condition in that deal was met, and the Jets used it on Brad Lambert. Lambert is a shifty, creative young centerman, and he hasn't yet found his footing in the NHL. Still, it's hard not to picture a Rangers team with him in the middle right now.

Winnipeg has since placed Lambert on waivers, according to a post from Brennan Klak on November 3, 2026, which means a team could claim him. That move is the kind of thing that can happen when a young player's development doesn't follow the expected track, and it's worth tracking because the Rangers' own pick history is part of the story now. Hindsight is cheap, but the trade's downstream effects are a lesson in how conditional picks can come back to matter years later.

Buchnevich, and the trade that still stings

A fan-shared clip from the same night showed Pavel Buchnevich trying to get under Mika Zibanejad's skin, and it landed as a reminder of what the Rangers gave up when they moved him. It's a fair bit of nostalgia, but the fans who miss his energy aren't wrong that the roster has lacked that kind of edge at times. Nostalgia rarely wins hockey games, though, so the more useful point is that the Rangers still need someone to provide that same jolt on a consistent basis.

Special teams improved, but the penalty count nearly cost them

The power play and penalty kill looked better Tuesday, and that's a positive sign. Still, the opponent was the St. Louis Blues, and it's worth keeping that context in mind before crowning the units as fixed. Good special teams numbers against a team like that don't guarantee the same results against a deeper or more dangerous group.

The more pressing issue was discipline. The Rangers took far too many penalties, and several were the kind that good teams avoid. Giving up that many power-play chances on a night when the goaltender is already shouldering a heavy load is a recipe for trouble. They were fortunate to leave with two points, and a team that relies on a stretched netminder can't afford to keep handing opponents free chances.

What to watch next

The immediate questions are simple. Can the Rangers reduce Garand's minutes without giving up the points they need? Does Cuylle get more opportunities at center, and does his faceoff work improve? And does the penalty count drop once the team settles into a rhythm? If the answer to two of those three is yes, Tuesday's win looks like the start of something. If it's just one, the Rangers will be right back in the same grind, leaning on a goalie and hoping the other team takes the penalties for them.