First Period:
- Brady Tkachuk (20) Assists: Claude Giroux (27)
Second Period:
- Jakob Chychrun (8) (Power Play) Assists: Drake Batherson (21), Thomas Chabot (12)
- Alexis Lafreniere (12) Assists: Artemi Panarin (35), Adam Fox (29)
- Chris Kreider (23) Assists: Mika Zibanejad (30)
- Zac Jones (1) Assists: Artemi Panarin (36), Vincent Trocheck (31)
- Jonny Brodzinski (2) Assists: Zac Jones (4), Will Cuylle (6)
- Blake Wheeler (9) Assists: Mika Zibanejad (31), Chris Kreider (22)
Third Period:
- Artemi Panarin (30) (Empty Net) Assists: Alexis Lafreniere (17)
- Kaapo Kakko (5) Assists: Jonny Brodzinski (9), Erik Gustafsson (19)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- For about 25 minutes it sure seemed like the Rangers were going to enter the bye week and All-Star break with another brutal, slow, disappointing game.
- Then Alexis Lafreniere finally got some puck luck. to get one, Chris Kreider shot the puck hit the net and scored and the Rangers offense started to resemble how it looked for a lot of the early part of the season.
- What was also like earlier in the season was Jonathan Quick being excellent in the first period and not allowing this game to become a blowout early. Through these first 49 games he has been the better goalie for the Rangers, but if that continues into the last 30+ games then the Rangers will be in a bit of trouble.
- Connor Mackey also probably deserves some credit. He threw what seemed like a normal body check and had to fight after it. It wasn’t long after that they finally got on the board and then broke the game open. He stepped in nicely and so did Zac Jones. Obviously the Rangers will need Jacob Trouba when he returns from suspension and hopefully Ryan Lindgren will be fine when they return, but defensive depth is always important.
- There were flashes in this game of who the Rangers were and who they likely still can be. It wasn’t a perfect game, but it was good enough and it was certainly better to enter the break on this note than another loss and less than stellar performance.
- 2024 has not been kind to the Rangers and a lot of it is their own doing. They have played lately without the confidence and decisiveness that helped drive their offense, they have been careless with the puck and with big gaps in their defensive coverage. The PP has been spotty and they have looked for long stretches like they are trying to do too much and forcing plays. A lot of those things can get fixed with simple plays, going to the net, playing with speed and stronger, smarter defensive coverage. We’ve seen them do it and while I don’t know if another 18-4-1 run is in them, they can certainly play a better and more competitive brand of hockey than they had for part of December and most of January. But all of those things focus on the five players on the ice and the ones on the bench. It’s hard to imagine the Rangers getting anywhere or back to consistently winning without Igor Shesterkin rounding back into form.
- The Rangers return on 2/5 with a good test against the Avs.