New top line Golden again in Rangers rout of Golden Knights.

For the second straight game, the revamped lines looked Golden against the Knights, as the Rangers went into T-Mobile arena and routed Vegas 5-1 on Wednesday evening. The Blueshirts have referenced their season-opening win against Tampa Bay as their blueprint for victories. However, after Wednesday’s stifling performance, you can add this to the convincing New York wins collection.

Yes, the 19-8-1 Vegas Golden Knights were without two of its best players, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo, and may have been jet-lagged, having just flown in from a grueling  East coast trip. But that shouldn’t matter to the Rangers, nor take away from the dazzling show they put on in the hostile fortress.

Mika Zibanejad rifled home two goals, Artemi Panarin, had a three-point game, and Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves leading the victorious Blueshirts to their second straight win.

The Rangers started their game with the first line that won them their last one on Monday against the Blues and hit the jackpot just seven minutes in when Jacob Trouba fed the puck to K’Andre Miller at the point, who flung it towards the net, where Kaapo Kakko was there to tip it past Logan Thomson for an early 1-0 lead.

The tally fulfilled Chris Kreider’s pregame prophecy of #24 when he said, “I’m pretty sure that Kaapo is the next one in the next game because he’s been doing all the little things and working his butt off and getting all kinds of chances and looks.”

The remainder of the period saw the Blueshirts shut things down and continue to pressure Vegas with stifling defense and offensive zone pressure. The hosts looked a step slow, and a bit rattled headed into the first intermission.

The Rangers’ fine play would carry into the first 10 minutes of the second period before the Knights picked up the slack and used their speed to wear down the New York defense.
It eventually led to a power play on what radio broadcaster Dave Maloney lamented as a “Tired trip” by Vincent Trocheck.

Five seconds later, Ryan Lindgren went off for cross-checking Mark Stone, which gave Vegas a two-man advantage, and they would score with Jonathan Marchessault slotting one home to tie it. The Golden Knights would then test Shesterkin with some quality scoring chances on the ensuing power play, but Igor stood tall to keep things even.

Towards the end of the frame, Barclay Goodrow made noise when he dropped the mitts with Keegan Kolesar following their offsetting roughing penalties, bringing a sense of tenacity to the contest as the teams headed into the third period tied at a goal apiece.

The final 20 minutes have been well-documented as an Achilles- heel for the Blueshirts this year, but it wasn’t in their three-goal third against the Blues on Monday and wasn’t Wednesday night in Vegas.
With 14:32 remaining, the Rangers received their third power play of the contest when Shea Theodore tripped Filip Chytil, giving way to a patented Mika Zibanejad one-timer goal off of cross-ice passes from Kakko, Adam Fox, and Artemi Panarin to put New York ahead 2-1.

The tally opened the floodgates, as 24 seconds later, Panarin forced a defensive zone turnover and found a streaking Barclay Goodrow, who lifted the disc across to Chytil for the insurance marker to double the Rangers’ advantage.

With the first line back on after a rest, they won board battles and forced Knights defenseman Alec Martinez to get tangled up and knock Thomson’s stick out of his hand. Seeing as the opposing goaltender had lost his sword, the Blueshirts took advantage.

After winning a battle behind the net, Kakko skated out left and dumped it back to Zibanejad, who played catch with Adam Fox before feeding Alexis Lafreniere down low to put Vegas away essentially.

After two irate Golden Knights penalties, Zibanejad would complete the barrage, bookending the scoring by rifling his second goal of the period, for a team-high 15th of the season, and 10th on the power play.

MARV’S THREE STARS:

HONORABLE STAR: THE KIDS
The big three of Lafreniere, Kakko, and Chytil each scored, and no, it wasn’t because they were together on the “kid line.”
While Lafreniere and Kakko starred with Zibanejad on line one, Fillip returned from a lower-body injury and saw himself on the second line with Panarin and Goodrow. You could instantly see how rejuvenated he felt, being in the top six, as he constantly pestered the puck and was eventually rewarded for his efforts with a goal.
As for the other two, it’s been a struggle this year after their standout playoff run. However, since the promotion, the two have looked exponentially better, pouncing on their profound opportunities as starters.

3 Adam Fox
The defenseman had two assists and was the ringleader in handcuffing the high-octane Golden Knights on the other end.
Fox logged 22:43 of Ice time and registered three blocks, three takeaways, and a +\- of 1. He’s got 30 points on the season and is just five behind Erik Karlsson for the league lead among defensemen.

2 Artemi Panarin
The breadman had three apples on Wednesday and was effective on both sides of the puck. Although he didn’t score, he had six shots on goal, which is what you love to see from the superstar winger, who recently admitted to his lack of shooting being a mental hurdle he’s trying to work past.

1 Mika Zibanejad
That was a splendid performance from the center, who now has eight goals in nine career games against Vegas. Aside from his pinpoint clappers on those power-play goals, Mika thrived with Kakko and Lafreniere on the first line and picked up an assist for his efforts. Defensively, he was vital in the Rangers disrupting the Knights trying to go to work down low, which gave way for successful l New York breakouts out of the defensive and neutral zones, respectively.