The New York Rangers were dealt an unfortunate hand when they lost franchise goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a season-ending knee injury and expected backup Joonas Korpisalo to the injured reserve in rapid succession. But there is simply no excuse for how the coaching staff executed its goaltending plan on Monday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
Dylan Garand, who had started seven consecutive games since Shesterkin went down, was finally scheduled to watch from the bench. The recently signed James Reimer was handed the crease fresh off a 35-save shutout in Hartford. The logic seemed sound: use the final game before a rare six-day layoff to give Garand a mandatory breather, buy time for Korpisalo’s recovery, and bridge the gap to Sunday.
As John Steinbeck once wrote, the best-laid plans often go awry. That was painfully evident during New York's 6-3 defeat—their first home loss of the 2026-27 season.
A planned night off ruined in twenty minutes
The disaster unfolded almost immediately. Reimer looked completely out of rhythm, allowing goals on the first two shots he faced and surrendering three goals on eight shots in the opening period.
Rather than letting his 38-year-old veteran battle through the rust, Sullivan panicked. He yanked Reimer at the first intermission and summoned Garand out of the tunnel.
The decision forced Garand into his ninth straight game appearance dating back to his relief effort in Washington. Unsurprisingly, Garand entered cold and was beat for a pair of goals in the second period. The first was an immediate gut punch in which former Ranger Artemi Panarin buried a power-play marker that carried over from the first period. Mikey Anderson found the back of the net nearly six minutes later before Garand finally locked things down.
From that point on, Garand stabilized, stopping 15 of the 17 shots he faced across 38:05 of ice time. Tye Kartye buried a late goal to give New York a sliver of hope at 5-3, but Joel Edmundson’s empty-netter sealed the Rangers’ fate.
James Reimer was signed to eat minutes, not get sheltered
No matter how you slice it, the coaching staff botched this deployment. Once the organization decided to start Reimer, he needed to finish the game. Reimer is not a newbie whose confidence will shatter after a rough period. He is a grown man, and a 17-year pro with 539 games of NHL regular season action under his belt. His role on this roster, which will evaporate the moment Korpisalo returns, is to soak up minutes and shield Garand from burnout.
Nobody expected Reimer to pitch a shutout. The entire objective of giving him the nod was to ensure Garand did not have to strap on the pads or think about anything until Sunday against Connor McDavid. By pulling Reimer after just 20 minutes, Sullivan completely erased that benefit and completely negated what he said before the game.
Sullivan confirmed that Reimer will start tonight. Made it sound like a big motivating factor is giving Garand a breather.
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 26, 2026
"We're asking a lot of Dylan. He just had 7 starts in a row... I think there's a physical challenge to it, but there's also a mental challenge to it."#NYR https://t.co/cPgyB7tto4
Sullivan admits the failure
Thankfully, Sullivan knows he made a mistake, and he said as much after the game. However, some of his comments were a bit confusing.
"I put him in a tough spot and that's on me"
— SNY Rangers (@SNYRangers) October 27, 2026
Mike Sullivan talks about James Reimer starting tonight vs. the Kings pic.twitter.com/DaKydoejr9
The Blueshirts bench boss said:
"Let's just acknowledge we're in a difficult circumstance when our top two goalies are injured. So, we're trying to find a way to shore this thing up as best we can. I think Dylan has given us some really good games, and as I said to you guys, his workload is mounting. And then for Reims to come in the way he has, in short order, going into a game like this, it's not an easy challenge. It's a tough challenge, and I just felt like the way the game was going, I just felt like maybe Reims needs a little bit more preparation before we put him in that circumstance. … I put him in a tough spot. That's that's on me."
Admitting that Reimer needed more preparation is a glaring confession. If the coaching staff knew Reimer wasn't ready for game speed, why start him over an alternative stopgap like Spencer Martin? Or why not let Reimer take another start in Hartford over the weekend to get his feet under him?
Martin isn't an NHL goalie, the Rangers have said as much given the way he's been utilized, but in all reality the team needed a warm body to stand in the goal crease not named Dylan Garand. This type of strategy is often utilized in other sports, one such example is baseball. You often will see a team run out a relief pitcher for a few innings, no matter how they pitch, and then designate them for assignment after the game in order to bring in another fresh arm. Reimer was supposed to be that "long man" but obviously the plan changed.
Dropping three straight games and falling to 7-6-1 is far from fatal in late October. But the process behind this goaltending shuffle was completely backwards. The Rangers now head into a six-day break searching for answers, and when they return to the ice on Sunday, they will need Garand sharper than ever.
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