Lafrenière stars as Rangers post 2nd straight 4-0 win

The New York Rangers are making this a habit.  They got their second straight 4-0 shutout, handily beating the Red Wings the same way they beat the Flyers on Wednesday.   The game was never in doubt as the Rangers dominated the Wings from puck drop. They are also making Gerard Gallant look like a genius in how he deploys his players, especially Alexis Lafrenière.

The only negative was an apparent knee injury suffered by Kaapo Kakko in the first period.  Ironically, he was replaced by Alexis Lafrenière who scored two goals including one for the highlight reel.

Gerard Gallant had made Lafrenière a healthy scratch against the Flyers, maintaining that the 20-year-old needed a rest and that he looked  “tired.”  Gallant laughed taking full credit for making the right call. “It was a good idea.  He looked like he was fresh tonight.”  But he did reinforce the need for a rest. “It was all about getting him refreshed….he come back tonight and had some good jump, he gets a goal and gets another beautiful goal. He was pretty excited.”

Gallant also made a point that he doesn’t consider the bottom six as a third and fourth line. He said that “I look at those two lines as two third lines” when asked about Lafrenière starting on the fourth line.

After the game Lafrenière spoke about the game.  “I felt pretty good.  I think I played with a little more confidence. That’s what I have to do more often. That’s what I’ll try to do  every night.”  He said the one game scratching didn’t bother him and acknowledged that he wasn’t playing well.  His answer hinted that the concern was with his defensive play. “It’s what I want to do, just play with confidence, try to be responsible in our zone.”

ZIbanejad spoke about the progress he is seeing in Lafrenière’s game. “Everyone can see his skill on the offensive plays…but I think it’s the work away from the puck, the little things, the simple plays…that’s coming more consistent, really getting better every single day and that’s a good sign.”

When asked about Kakko, Gallant said he didn’t think it was serious and he stayed out as a precaution.  You have to hope that is true, but he said the same thing the last time and Kakko missed 31 games.

Notes on the game

• The Rangers improved their record to 49-21-6 and 104 points, third most in the league.   They are only the fifth team in franchise history to reach 49 wins.
• The Rangers improved their record against the Atlantic Division to an amazing 19-2-1.   They also improved their record on Saturdays to 11-2-0, the most wins of any day of the week.
• The Rangers finally scored on a five-on-three for the first time this season.  This was their fifth of the campaign, though one of them last only one second.  Last season they were 2-7 and the season before, they were an awful 1-10.
• They were one for four on the power play, the first time they scored in five games with the man advantage.  They have dropped to fifth in the NHL with a 25.5% success rate.
• They killed the only penalty they took and have not allowed a power play goal in eight games and have killed 19 straight. They remain ninth best in the NHL with a 82.1%.
• Mika Zibanejad established a new career high with 77 points on a goal and an assist.
• This was the first multi-goal game of Alexis Lafrenière’s career and he now has 17 goals on the season, tied with Ryan Strome for fourth most on the team.  He is still looking for his first power play goal.
• Over the last two seasons, Chris Kreider leads the team with 31 even strength goals.  In second place with 29, Alexis Lafrenière.
• Frank Vatrano added a goal and has now scored seven goals in 16 games as a Ranger after scoring 10 goals in 49 games for Florida.  He’s one off his second best season total of 18.  It was the 100th goal of his NHL career.
• Artemi Panarin reached the 90 point mark for the second time in his career and he is five away from his career high.  He has six games to get 10 points to reach 100 for the first time in his career.
• Igor Shesterkin didn’t have a tough time in net and it was difficult to say that any of his 20 saves was really difficult.   He became the fastest Ranger goalie to get to 35 wins in a season, taking 50 games.  He improved his record to 35-11-4  Those 35 win are second most in the NHL and he retook the league lead with a 2.05 goals against average and .935 save percentage.
• This was Igor Shesterkin’s fifth shutout of the season, third most in the NHL. Don’t forget that he shared a shutout with Alexandar Georgiev when he had to leave a December game with San Jose due to a lower body injury with 14 minutes left and he lost a shutout in February when Alexander Ovechkin scored with just one minute left.
• This was the first time the Rangers beat Thomas Greiss in eight decisions.  He came into the game with  6-0-1 record against them.  He was pretty solid including saves on breakaways by Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin.

My 3 Ranger stars

1. Alexis Lafrenière gets the deserved number one star for shaking off a one game benching (yeah, he was rested), to come back and score two goals.  The second goal was just fabulous and the kind of goal we have been waiting for him to score for two seasons. He has 17 goals playing mostly on the third line.  Not bad.
2. Barclay Goodrow is the unsung hero for the Rangers.  He made plays to force the two goals for Lafrenière and played an excellent all around game.  He led all forwards with two blocked shots and two hits along with two assists.
3. Igor Shesterkin has to get a star because of the shutout, though a case could be made for Mika Zibanejad who had a goal and an assist.  Shesterkin was there when he was needed.

The official 3 stars

1. Alexis Lafrenière
2. Mika Zibanejad
3. Igor Shesterkin

The playoff picture

The Rangers moved into a tie with Carolina for first place with the win.

The Penguins lost to the Bruins 2-1 and that means the Rangers have opened a seven point lead on Pittsburgh.The magic number to clinch second play is now only three. Top Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry was injured in their game against the Islanders and is day-to-day, dire news for the flightless birds.

The game Ranger fans will be interested in is tonight in Denver where the Hurricanes take on the league leading Colorado Avalanche.  Other than a trip to Madison Square Garden, it’s the last time Carolina plays a team headed to the playoffs as they have games with Arizona, Winnipeg, the Islanders and two versus New Jersey.

What’s next

The schedule is really giving the Rangers a break as they have another two days off before playing on Tuesday when the Winnipeg Jets come to Madison Square Garden. The last time they played a team outside the Eastern Conference was on March 15 when they took on Anaheim and this is their final game outside of the conference.

After Winnipeg, the Rangers go on the road for the last time as they travel to Elmont Thursday to take on the Islanders and then a quick trip to Boston for another Saturday matinee.  After that trip, there are only three games left on the schedule, all at home.