Garand Injured, Othmann Scores, Korczak Assists

Dylan Garand (Kamloops Blazers)

Three New York Ranger's prospects saw action on Wednesday evening and this is one of those good news, bad news kind of reports. 2020 fourth-round pick goalie Dylan Garand of the Kamloops Blazers suffered a non-contact injury to his left knee forcing him to leave the game at 15:39 of the second period and he did not return. 

Garand who was having a career season for the Blazers appeared to have caught his knee in the post and then just rolled onto his back. He had trouble putting weight on his leg as he left the game and no word as to the extent of his injury has been made available. 

The timing of the injury could not come at the worst time for the Blazers, they are fighting for the top seed in the WHL's Western Conference as well as trying to hold off Talyn Boyko's Kelowna Rockets for the WHL's BC Division lead.

The Blazers are scheduled to face the Western Conference leaders the Everett Silvertips in a "home and home" set this weekend followed by a "home and home" set with Boyko's Rockets next weekend. Postgame, Blazer's associate coach said Garand was "moving around which is encouraging".

Brennan Othmann scored his 32nd goal of the season as his Flint Firebirds took on the Soo Greyhounds in a battle of the OHL's Western Conference and West Division leaders. It was the Firebirds' only goal of the game as the teams needed the shootout before the Greyhounds would earn a 2-1 win. 

Goal #⃣3⃣2⃣ from the rockstar zone for Brennan Othmann (@BOthmann78)! 😤

The @NYRangers prospect does what he does best and breaks the tie to give the @FlintFirebirds a 1-0 lead on the road against the Hounds 📽️ pic.twitter.com/onDC5Q4jDc

— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) February 17, 2022

Every time you think you have seen Othmann score a goal from some odd angle or spot on the ice, then he scores from a different spot. It was part of a 1-0-1 effort on four shots and a +1 for Othmann. 

Othmann improves to 32-31-63 in 42 games as he is second in the OHL for goals scored and is seventh in overall points. The goal also extended Othmann's scoring streak to six games (3-6-9) and has points in 12 out of 13 games ( 9-13-22). 

Ryder Korczak had a two-assist night as his Moose Jaw Warriors overcame their own offensive ineptness to hold off the Calgary Hitmen 3-2. Moose Jaw's skaters should be thanking their goalie Jackson Unger as he played like he was Henrik Lundqvist making save after save stopping 38 out of 40 shots including some odd-man rushes and shorthanded chances. 

Korczak earned his first point when he set up Jagger Firkus for a power-play goal at 6:37 of the first period to open the scoring. It gave Moose Jaw a 1-0 lead but Calgary responded to send the game into the first intermission tied at 1-1. 

With time winding down in the second period, Korczak helped to put his team up for good when he worked a "give and go" with teammate Daemon Hunt to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead after two periods.

Talk about playing to your strengths!

WHL top goal scoring defensemen, Daemon Hunt, nets his 14th of the season, and @NYRangers prospect, Ryder Korczak gets his 40th assist of the season.@MJWARRIORS | @mnwild pic.twitter.com/uLGrFOyDL8

— The WHL (@TheWHL) February 17, 2022

It was Korczak's 40th assist of the season as he improves to 18-40-58 after 50 games. The 40 assists are second best in the WHL and Korczak is also second in faceoff wins at 57.4%. Besides the 0-2-2, Korczak was credited with three shots but was 6-15 on his faceoffs.  

Did Not Play

Talyn Boyko was the backup goalie for his Kelowna Rockets for the second straight game. It is a good idea as Boyko has been a workhorse for the Rockets and was showing some signs of fatigue in recent games.