First Period:
- Alexis Lafreniere (23) Assists: Artemi Panarin (61), Ryan Lindgren (12)
Second Period:
- Ryan Lindgren (3) Assists: Adam Fox (49), Alexis Lafreniere (26)
- Matias Maccelli (14) Assists: Jack McBain (14), Josh Doan (3)
- Alexis Lafreniere (24) Assists: Vincent Trocheck (49), Artemi Panarin (62)
- Clayton Keller (32) Assists: Nick Schmaltz (34)
- Nick Bjugstad (21) Assists: Nick Schmaltz (35)
Third Period:
- Chris Kreider (35) Assists: Jack Roslovic (21), Ryan Lindgren (13)
- Zac Jones (2) Assists: Alexis Lafreniere (27), Artemi Panarin (63)
- Barclay Goodrow (2) (Shorthanded) Unassisted
- Lawson Crouse (21) (Power Play) Assists: Logan Cooley (22), Nick Bjugstad (23)
- Logan Cooley (17) Assists: Juuso Valimaki (13), Matias Maccelli (37)
- Artemi Panarin (44) (Empty Net) Assists: Kaapo Kakko (6)
- Alexis Lafreniere (25) (Empty Net) Assists: Vincent Trocheck (50), Adam Fox (50)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- A defense optional game and win for the Rangers. They played loose and like they would be able to score anytime they wanted and that was close to how it played out. They kept letting the Coyotes back in, but this never felt like a game the Rangers were going to lose.
- Jonathan Quick has 17 wins for the Rangers this season. 17! After how the last couple of years went for him, I don’t think Jonathan Quick expected he would get 17 wins over the course of the rest of his career let alone in one season. He’s been stellar all season even though the Rangers seem to play a lot of loose hockey in front of him. He’s a huge reason why the Rangers are still in first in the Metro and potentially the Presidents’ Trophy winner.
- A huge game from Alexis Lafreniere who hits 25 goals and goes past 50 points. I don’t know if it was the natural evolution of his game, Peter Laviolette replacing Gerard Gallant or clicking right away with Artemi Panarin and then Vincent Trocheck, but he just continues to get better game by game. He could have leveled off at a point and this still would have been a huge step forward for his game, but he just keeps taking steps forward. I thought 50 points was going to be a big season for him, but 8 points in the last 8 games to get to 60 doesn’t seem crazy.
- Chris Kreider hit 300 career goals. He’s the last tie to the 2014 team and he and Mika Zibanejad, and sort of Jimmy Vesey since he came back, are the only ones left from before the rebuild. He’s been dominant at times, streaky at others but a core player year after year.
- Zac Jones continues to impress game after game. Erik Gustafsson was a regular all season before his injury, but I don’t see how you can take Jones out of the lineup if/when Gustafsson is ready to return.
- Thursday’s game against Colorado was the last game the Rangers will play in the regular season against a team guaranteed to be in the playoffs. Philly seems likely and Detroit and the Islanders are battling for spots, but it’s going to be a bunch of games against non-playoff teams that could be a little loose. The Rangers are still battling for the Metro and the President’s Trophy, but they aren’t going to have the same kind of motivation or intensity. The only issue would be bad habits creeping in before the playoffs, but this team has shown time and again that they have the ability to reset and play how they need to play.
- Next up are the Pens on Monday.