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

By Steve Paulus

Apr 16, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreniere (13) celebrates with New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (31) after a 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 16, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreniere (13) celebrates with New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (31) after a 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 16, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers center Frank Vatrano (77) celebrates a 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings with New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (31) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 16, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers center Frank Vatrano (77) celebrates a 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings with New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (31) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports /

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.
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