Monday Night on Ice: Rangers Rout Ducks, Flyers Lead Avs, Leafs and Sharks Tied

Monday nights in October are supposed to be the quiet ones. Nobody told the schedule. The Rangers finished off the Ducks 5-2 at Madison Square Garden, the Flyers held on to beat Colorado 3-2, the Maple Leafs and Sharks carried a 1-1 tie deep into the third period in Toronto, and Utah grabbed an early lead on Pittsburgh in Salt Lake City. Four games, four different stories — and at least two of them flatly refused to follow the standings. — and waiting behind all of it is the biggest home game of the young Vegas season tomorrow night. Scores below are drawn from ESPN’s live data and checked at publication, with finals marked final; our NHL front has the boards updating through the night.

Rangers 5, Ducks 2 — the rout at the Garden

The loudest game of the night was over as a contest almost before it began. Sean Durzi scored 78 seconds into the first period for the New York Rangers, J.T. Miller, Gabe Perreault and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in a three-goal second, and Bjorkstrand’s second of the night early in the third made it 5-0 over the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden. Anaheim rescued a measure of pride in the final 70 seconds — Nick Jensen and AJ Greer scored 36 seconds apart to spoil Dylan Garand’s shutout — but the final was 5-2, Garand finished with 29 saves, and the Rangers, 5-0-0 at home entering the night, are now a perfect 6-0-0 at the Garden while Anaheim’s perfect road start is over. Alexis Lafrenière had two assists, and Ville Husso allowed five goals on 30 shots for the Ducks. We have the full report from the Garden: Rangers rout Ducks at MSG.

Maple Leafs 1, Sharks 1 — deadlock in Toronto

At Scotiabank Arena, the tightest game of the night is the one with the least scoring. The San Jose Sharks struck first through Mason Marchment, assisted by Tyler Toffoli, and Auston Matthews pulled the Toronto Maple Leafs level in the second period, with Darren Raddysh collecting the assist on the tying goal. It sits 1-1 through two periods, and the goaltending has matched the scoreline: Toronto has made 21 saves against San Jose’s 18, and neither side has found a second goal despite a combined 41 shots on target through two periods. Both teams need the points for the same reason — Toronto entered 3-4-2 and San Jose 4-3-1, hovering around the early-season line where a week of results decides whether autumn feels like a climb or a hole. The third period in Toronto is the best live finish on the board tonight.

Flyers 3, Avalanche 2 — the upset in Philadelphia

The standings said this should not have been close. The ice disagreed for 60 minutes. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 at Xfinity Mobile Arena, powered by the two young players Philadelphia is building around: Matvei Michkov scored twice — once in the first period, once in the second, his fifth and sixth goals of the season — and Trevor Zegras assisted on all three Flyers goals. Noel Acciari tipped in the third Philadelphia goal early in the third period, which briefly made it 3-1, but Colorado refused to leave: Martin Necas scored in the second, and T.J. Hughes beat Joseph Woll at 14:40 of the third to cut it to one and set up a frantic finish. Context is what makes it an upset: Philadelphia came in 1-6-3, the worst-looking record on tonight’s board, against a Colorado team at 5-2-1 with 72 goals already this season. Woll stopped 24 of 26 shots to finish the job, and the worst team on the board beat one of its best.

Mammoth 2, Penguins 1 — early exchange in Utah

The late game is the youngest game, and it is already moving: the Utah Mammoth lead the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 in the first period at the Delta Center. Erik Karlsson opened the scoring for Pittsburgh just 1:11 in, a slap shot assisted by Bryan Rust and Tommy Novak, but Utah answered twice in the next nine minutes — Clayton Keller’s backhand goal, set up by Lawson Crouse and Nick Schmaltz, and then Kevin Stenlund’s wrist shot at 10:10, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev and Jack McBain, to put the home team in front. Utah entered the night 6-3-0 and one of the early season’s pleasant surprises, while Pittsburgh arrived 3-5-1 and looking for any road result it can stack. A first period with three goals and both offenses awake suggests this one has plenty left in it — and with the other games in their third periods or beyond, Utah is where the late-night drama is most likely to live.

Tomorrow: Vegas puts its streak on the line

And then the week’s best home game arrives. On Tuesday night the Vegas Golden Knights host the Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena (7:30 p.m. PT), with Vegas bringing a three-game win streak into the matchup, per the Associated Press preview carried by The Hona News. It is the kind of early-season measuring stick both dressing rooms circle: a Vegas team protecting home ice and momentum, against a Tampa Bay club that measures itself in October the way other teams measure themselves in April. Our newsroom previewed the matchup earlier today — Golden Knights-Lightning at T-Mobile — and the sports front will carry it live tomorrow night, right alongside Game 7 of the ALCS if Cleveland can force one. Monday’s ice is still melting. Tuesday is already warming up.