Finally, a textbook Rangers 4-0 win at home

Notes on the game

This was Igor Shesterkin’s third career shutout.  He was particularly strong in the first period  before the Rangers could get their sea legs.  Gallant was very complimentary saying Shesterkin “made some key saves early…I think he’s one of the top goalies in the league…no doubt.”   He also said that the goalie has been the Rangers’ “best player all season long.”

Among the 26 NHL goalies with five games or more, Shesterkin has the third best save percentage (.944) and the fourth best goals against average (1.81).

Adam Fox had three assists in a game for the fourth time in his career, with his career high a five assist game last season.  He now has eight points (one goal, seven assists) and is one behind Roman Josi for the league lead among defensemen.  Interestingly, he is tied for second with three other defensemen including Neal Pionk and Tony DeAngelo.

Kreider’s two power play goals gives him five on the season, the most in the NHL, one more than Connor McDavid.   Kreider is off the best start of his career and is on a pace to score 62 goals.    While that number is unlikely, it’s very possible that Kreider will top the 30 goal mark for the first time in his career if he keeps this up.

Keider was noticeable jawing with Merzlikins after the Latvian goalie whacked him a few times when Kreider was in front of the net.  He was particularly vocal after he scored his second power play goal, while Merzlikins looked really miserable.

Elvis Merzlikins is a class act.  He had his players hold the puck at the end of the game to give Shesterkin the shutout and he raised his stick in salute.<

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The power play was 2-3 and scored twice for the first time this season.  On the season it is now 5-29 with an 18% success rate.  In an unusual move, they called a timeout during a third period 4v3 power play.  Gallant explained that he wouldn’t have done it on a 5v4, but it was their first time to work on a 4v3 and Mike Kelly had drawn up a play.

The penalty kill was perfect on three Columbus power plays, holding them to only two shots.  They are now at 80% efficiency killing 21 of 26 penalties.  Since the third game of the season, they have allowed only one power play goal in 18 chances.

Kaapo Kakko made his return to the lineup and is still looking for his first point, but Gallant pointed out that  “Kakko was really strong in the first period…controlling the puck with his big body.”   Gallant said that he thought his line with Panarin and Strome was very effective.

Gallant also had put Alexis Lafrenière on the third line with Filip Chytil and Sammy Blais and he said he thought that they had a good game.  Of course, Lafrenière responded to his coach’s callout by scoring on a sublime feed from Fox.

Psst. Don’t tell anyone, but Alexis Lafrenière has three goals in eight games, second most on the team.

Even the fourth line was effective with Greg McKegg playing with Kevin Rooney and Dryden Hunt.  Gallant complimented  the fact that “they didn’t throw blind passes, they cycled behind the net.”  The play of the fourth line justified his selection of McKegg to play instead of Julien Gauthier.

Ryan Reaves was put on Injured Reserve on Thursday, but will accompany the team on the road trip with the possibility that he could play next weekend in Edmonton and Calgary.

The Rangers reverted to form on faceoffs, winning only 40% of the draws (21-52).   After winning 11 of 12  on Monday, Ryan Strome won eight of 18.

Adam Fox led all skaters with 24:07 minutes of ice time.

The Rangers were on the power play for 5:28 and the second unit saw only 19 seconds of ice time with the man advantage. That’s what happens when the first unit is scoring goals.

The last time the Rangers had 11 points in their first eight games was 2015-16 and you have to go back to 2009-10 to find a Rangers’ team off to a better start.

The Rangers totaled 26 hits, the seventh time they have topped the 20 hit mark. Sammy Blais led the way with five hits.

Panarin’s three assists tied his Rangers career high, the ninth time he has done that. He’s exceeded that three times in his career, all with the Blue Jackets.  In eight games against the Blue Jackets in his career he has five goals and 12 points.

This was Panarin’s first multi-point game of the season.  In 111 games over the last two seasons, he had more than one point in 47 of them, 43% of his games.

The MSG Network folks were having some technical bugs with the audio and video out of sync.  We all got to hear Sam Rosen call the Strome and Lafrenière goals before we saw them take the shot.  If you want to experience it, watch this highlight:<

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It’s also worth nothing something that one of our readers pointed out.  In his highlights segment, Bill Pidto reported on the Hurricanes game with  the Blackhawks pointing out that the team features former Rangers Antti Raanta, Brady Skjei, Jesper Fast and Derek Stepan  who scored his first goal as a Hurricane.  Conspicuously absent was a mention of Tony DeAngelo who just happened to score a goal and add two assists and was later named the number one star.  Does anyone think that it’s a coincidence that the MSG folks did not mention any highlights featuring DeAngelo?  Just wondering.