NEW YORK (AP) — Ty Kartye and Will Cuylle scored two goals each and Dylan Garand made 19 saves as the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on Sunday night in their first game since losing goaltender Igor Shesterkin for the season with a knee injury.
Kartye snapped a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the game at 18:25 of the second period and the Rangers went on to win their fourth straight at home to start the season.
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New York Rangers J.T. Miller (10) and Vancouver Canucks' Zeev Buium (8) compete for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers' Marcus Pettersson, left, skates with the puck against Vancouver Canucks' Brendan Gallagher, right, during the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) blocks a shot by Vancouver Canucks' Linus Karlsson (94) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers' Vladislav Gavrikov, left, and Tye Kartye, right, react after Kartye scored during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Alexis Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault also scored for the Rangers, while J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad each had two assists.
Shesterkin injured his right knee Friday night in a loss at Washington.
The 24-year-old Garand, who was placed on waivers by the Rangers before the season but not claimed, is now the presumptive starter for New York, which has won five of seven games this season. Spencer Martin dressed as Garand’s backup.
Kartye opened the scoring 27 seconds into the contest. Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk tied it at 17:04 of the first before Cuylle put New York ahead with his first at 2:09 of the second.
Canucks defenseman Elias Pettersson scored short-handed at 16:56 of the second to tie the contest again before Kartye’s go-ahead goal.
Lafreniere extended New York’s lead to 4-2 with his team-leading fifth of the season on the power play at 1:04 of the third. Perreault made it 5-2 at 5:57. Cuylle scored again with less than five minutes to play.
Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen made 19 saves.
With his assist on Lafreniere's goal, Zibanejad became the third Ranger with 250 power-play points, joining Brian Leetch (514) and Rod Gilbert (323).
The Canucks fell to 2-5-0 under new coach Manny Malhotra. Vancouver lost 4-1 at New Jersey on Saturday.
Rangers: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Canucks: Visit the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
New York Rangers J.T. Miller (10) and Vancouver Canucks' Zeev Buium (8) compete for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers' Marcus Pettersson, left, skates with the puck against Vancouver Canucks' Brendan Gallagher, right, during the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) blocks a shot by Vancouver Canucks' Linus Karlsson (94) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York Rangers' Vladislav Gavrikov, left, and Tye Kartye, right, react after Kartye scored during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday he will undergo surgery “in the coming days” to remove a nodule on his lung, in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate.
The 71-year-old Leo said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or small and well-localized. The Vatican said Leo's expected recovery time from surgery would be a week.
The American pope made the announcement during his Sunday noon blessing in an unusual display of transparency about his health. He thanked the crowd for their closeness and entrusted himself to their prayers.
The Vatican didn’t say exactly when the surgery would take place, other than in the early days of this week. Leo has one upcoming main event: the closing Mass on Wednesday of a weeklong conference on family ministry, but Vatican officials suggested he might miss it.
A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters (1 inch) that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen, according to the American Cancer Society. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening.
“Lung nodules are fairly common and are often benign, but benign and cancerous nodules can have a similar appearance on imaging," said Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer expert at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
"When there is sufficient concern, and when it is safe to do so based on the location of the nodule and the overall health of the patient, surgical removal can provide a definitive diagnosis,” he said.
If the nodule turns out to be cancerous, the prognosis is “excellent” since it will have been removed at an early stage and surgery alone might be all Leo needs in terms of treatment, he said in an interview.
"It often can be a blessing in disguise to remove that cancer before it has a chance to grow or to spread,” he said.
Leo has no previously known health problems and is physically active, with weekly tennis matches and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.
The pope has a major trip planned Nov. 6-17 to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It's unclear how or whether the planned surgery and recovery might affect the itinerary, but Leo said earlier in his remarks Sunday that he still planned to go.
In his remarks, delivered in Italian, Leo said that during a recent medical check, “doctors found a circumscribed nodule in my lung. It was detected at a very early stage and is well-localized. The doctors believe it’s best to take action, so, following their advice, I have decided to have surgery to remove it."
He thanked the faithful "for your spiritual support, and I entrust myself to your prayers.”
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, died April 21, 2025, of a stroke following a long hospitalization brought on by a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. Francis suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.
Francis' illnesses were characterized by a dizzying and sometimes problematic release of information from the Vatican, which always closely guards the privacy of a pope's health. In one infamous incident, the Vatican said Francis had gone to the hospital in March 2023 for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed. He ended up being admitted for three days.
This time around, Leo appeared keen to control the message and deliver it himself, using one of his most public encounters with the faithful to alert them of his condition and impending hospital stay.
Leo is expected to undergo surgery at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where Francis and popes before him were treated and where there is a special apartment for pontiffs. On Sunday, there was no obvious sign that the pope had already been admitted.
Dr. Dionysis Papadatos-Pastos, an oncologist and lung cancer specialist at The London Clinic, stressed that an incidental finding of a lung nodule doesn't mean lung cancer. And in fact “a well-circumscribed nodule does suggest that this is less likely to be cancer."
But he said cancer was possible and the main imperative is to investigate. "The worst thing you can do is ignore a lung nodule,” he said in an interview.
Liu, the Georgetown oncologist, said surgical removal in such a case was standard, especially for someone in otherwise good health and if the nodule is in an easily accessible location. A needle biopsy on a lung nodule can be difficult and may not provide doctors with enough information, he said.
"In these cases, surgery itself, while it may seem dramatic, is often very safe, very straightforward with a rapid recovery,” he said, adding that Leo should be in good shape to travel to Latin America barring any complications.
Leo is not known to be a smoker. Liu noted that 1 in 5 people diagnosed with lung cancer have no history of smoking.
Dr. Massimo Di Maio, president of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology, said it will be important to determine if the nodule is benign or malignant, and if it is malignant, whether it has spread. When the disease is detected at an early stage “the aim … is curative,” he added.
Depending on what is found, possible treatments can include chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Di Maio told Italy’s private Sky TG24.
“When we talk about something being localized, that can also refer to the need to establish whether the disease is confined to that one site or whether scans show signs of disease elsewhere,” he said, adding that he has not treated the pope and was speaking about the disease in general.
“Being physically fit and healthy is certainly an important starting point for coping as well as possible with treatment, including surgery,” he added.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, among the few outsiders to visit Francis during his long final hospitalization, expressed her support, and that of the Italian government, for Leo “as he faces this challenge in the coming days.” In a statement, she added that “the serenity and calm with which he spoke about it” were reassuring.
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Barry reported from Milan; AP reporter Danica Kirka contributed from London.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The statue of late Pope John Paul II, center, is pictured at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
