Playing on a team that features future Hall-of-Famers like Sidney Crosby , Nathan MacKinnon and Marc-Andre Fleury , New York Rangers goalie prospect Dylan Garand didn't look at all out of place Saturday, leading Canada to a 4-0 win against Slovenia in its opener at the 2025 World Hockey Championship in Stockholm.
Garand didn't see a lot of shots and only had to make 11 saves to earn the shutout. But he was poised and sharp when called upon, and caught the eye of Columbus Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason, who's behind Canada's bench for this international tournament.
"I'm very impressed," Evason said about Garand. "We gave up a couple opportunities, some three on ones, and he made some tremendous saves. They had good opportunities and Garand played really well for sure."
This isn't the 22-year-old's first time playing on the international stage for Canada. He represented Canada at the 2021 and 2022 World Junior Championships. Garand helped them capture gold in 2022 when he had a 1.98 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in six games.
As for playing on the same team as Crosby, Canada's captain, Garand had this to say before the tournament started: "Honestly this might be the only chance I get to play with him. I had his poster in my room as a kid. It's surreal but it's great to see he's just a normal guy who's just exceptionally good at hockey."
Garand is also thrilled to share the net with Fleury, who's retiring after the World Championship and hopes to snag another championship on his way out. Fleury, who just completed his 21st NHL season after appearing in 26 games with the Minnesota Wild , is expected to be Canada's No. 1 goalie in this tourney. But He was super supportive of Garand in the opener against Slovenia.
Playing in the Worlds is a nice cap to Garand's third professional season. He was an AHL All-Star with the Hartford Wolf Pack, winning a career-high 20 games and posting a career-best .913 save percentage, which was tied for ninth best in the league, in 39 games.
Garand is a restricted free agent coming off his entry-level contract with the Rangers , who are expected to extend him a qualifying offer and sign him to a bridge deal this summer. Another season in Hartford awaits the 2020 fourth-round pick since Jonathan Quick re-upped already to be Igor Shesterkin 's backup for another season.
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Will Cuylle also played for Canada in the victory Saturday. Cuylle, who scored 20 goals this season with the Rangers, logged 10:18 TOI and recorded one shot on goal in the second period.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Mika Zibanejad has three goals in the first two games for Sweden. After scoring the final tally in a 5-0 win in the opener against Slovakia on Friday, Zibanejad scored twice and led Sweden with four shots on goal in a 4-2 victory over Austria on Saturday.
Zibanejad tied the score 1-1 at 13:26 of the second period. He scored what proved to be the game-winner with 2:07 remaining in regulation, when Sweden rallied with three goals in 58 seconds to avoid an upset loss.
Another Rangers forward scored the game-winner against Austria on Friday. Juuso Parssinen 's goal at 7:06 of the first period ended up being the difference in Finland's 2-1 win over Austria.
One other player from the Rangers organization is participating in the World Championships. Forward prospect Adam Sykora is scoreless so far for Slovakia.
