The New York Rangers won their first game at home Monday night at MSG, with the offense edging out the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 4-1 to move to a 2-0-1 record. Mika Zibanejad scored a pair of goals and added an assist while Artemi Panarin delivered three assists of his own in the victory, partially backed by goaltender Igor Shesterkin's 31 saves on 32 shots faced.
Alexis Lafrenière opened the scoring for the Rangers a little more than past halfway of the 1st period, his 2nd goal of the season, the assists coming from Artemi Panarin, his 3rd of the season and D Zac Jones, who continued his stellar play after the impressive preseason showing he demonstrated. It'd stay 1-0 New York for the rest of the 1st until there were a mere 2 seconds on the clock, as Detroit's captain Dylan Larkin beat the buzzer for his 2nd of the season. There would be only 1 goal in the 2nd, and it'd come from Chris Kreider, his 3rd of the season for a 2-1 Rangers lead, and it came on a Rangers power play, to the delight of longtime Rangers play-by-play man Sam Rosen, working his final season at the Garden.
Reilly Smith notched the third goal of the night, getting his first goal in a Rangers sweater since being acquired from divisional rivals Pittsburgh this offseason. Oddly enough, New York's first game this season was a visit to Smith's former team, where they'd end up dropping a six-pack on the Penguins. Superstar RW Mika Zibanejad (who I share a birthday with!) tallied the final goal, already adding to his two-point night to make a three-point performance for the 31-year-old Swedish superstar. Fellow star G Igor Shesterkin also excelled, stopping all but one of the Red Wings' shots on goal sent his way. On the other side of the ice, Detroit's Alex Lyon had to be pulled after allowing three of the four goals on 27 shots faced, marking him for 24 saves total. Cam Talbot was the Wings' backup but did not need any ice time.
Detroit did at least manage a bit more total shots on goal, with 32 to New York's 28, while having 19 hits, just like the Rangers, and 10 minutes worth of penalties to New York's 8. The Rangers were stronger at the faceoff circle, winning 39 matchups to Detroit's 29, a ratio of 58% to 42%. The two teams are actually scheduled for a rematch this Thursday in Detroit, with puck drop set for 7:30 pm. The MVP for this contest was definitely Zibanejad, who did not have a point in the Rangers' first two games against Pittsburgh and the 5-4 overtime home opener loss to Utah last Saturday. And for a bit of history-making, Panarin joins three other Rangers in franchise history to have multiple points in the first three regular season games, after Mike McEwen in 1978/79, Bernie Nicholls in 90/91, and Chris Kreider in 2016/17.
Overall, the offense shined on Monday night, clearly earning an A grade.
The Rangers' Thursday night visit to Detroit also kicks off a three-game road trip. After a stop in Motor City, they head north of the border to face Toronto at 7 pm this Saturday. They will then face Montreal one week from today at 7:15 pm. Their next home contest is an Eastern Conference Finals rematch against the Cup champion Florida Panthers on October 24 at 7 p.m.