Notes on the game
- The Rangers have a record of 44-19-5 and 93 points. They have a three point lead over the Penguins for second place and the Capitals are now nine points behind the Blueshirts.
- The Rangers’ 93 points are fourth most in the NHL and their points percentage is fourth best as well. Their road record of 22-13-2 is tops in the NHL and the 22 wins are tied with Tampa for most in the league.
- New York has won 17 of 20 games against the Atlantic Division, getting 35 of a possible 40 points.
- This is the third four game winning streak for the team. Their longest winning streak this season has been seven games.
- The Rangers finished March with 11 wins in 15 games and 22 points. That’s the most wins and points in any month this season and tied for the most wins in March in franchise history. They are the 109th team in NHL history to finish March with 22 points. Only the 2006-07 Rangers had more March points in franchise history, finishing with 23.
- Chris Kreider did it again, scoring his 24th power play goal and his 46th goal of the season to tie the score late in the third. The 24 power play goals ties him with Jaromir Jagr for most in one season by a Ranger, set in 2005-06. He leads the NHL in PP goals and is third in the NHL in goals. His nine game winning goals is second in the NHL, one behind Leon Draisaitl.
- Artemi Panarin had a three point night with a goal and two assists. He is 11th in the NHL with 80 points and is third in the NHL with 62 assists. He is creeping up the franchise list with 16 multi assist games this season, behind only Brian Leetch, Jean Ratelle and Mark Messier who had 18 multi assist games in a season.
- Ryan Reaves scored his third goal of the season and they have all been on games televised by TNT, something the on-air folks reminded us of about a dozen times.
- The newcomers contributed again with Frank Vatrano getting his first assist as a Ranger on Panarin’s goal and Andrew Copp scoring the game winning goal.
- Late in the game Gallant changed up the lines, putting Panarin on the same line as Zibanejad as Vatrano for a couple shifts. After the game Gallant said that he wanted to “make them (the Red Wings) think” because they were matching lines.
- One area of concern is the Rangers penalty kill. They’ve allowed power play goals in five straight games, allowing six goals their last 14 times shorthanded. After stopping 20 of 22 power plays (91%), they have stopped 26 of 38 (68%). Of course, your goaltender is your best penalty killer and Georgiev has stopped one of the last five power plays while Shesterkin has stopped seven of the last nine. Overall, the penalty kill has slipped to 13th overall at 80.4%.
- Alexandar Georgiev finished with 22 saves on 26 shots. His goals against average is 3.11 and his save percentage is .892, 56th overall in the NHL among goalies who have played 15 games or more.
- For the sixth straight game, the Rangers had two or fewer power plays. Their power play remains second best in the NHL at 27.1%.
- The Rangers have only four of their remaining 14 games on the road.
- The Rangers won 51% of their draws, led by Andrew Copp who won nine of 15.