The Rangers put together a complete effort, defeating the Capitals 5-2 on Sunday. Artemi Panarin tallied three assists, giving him 62 helpers and 87 points for the year, leaving him three shy of 90 for the third time while a member of the team. The Kid Line was brilliant again while Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves in noticing the win. New York faces Tampa at home Wednesday and St. Louis on the road Thursday.
Game recap:
Lines: Kreider-Zibanejad-Kane Panarin-Trocheck-Tarasenko Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko Vesey-Goodrow-Motte
Mikkola-Fox Miller-Trouba Harpur-Schneider
A few thoughts: 1) Kid Line -Alexis Lafreniere had a Lafreniere again, using the move he made to score against Detroit, going between the legs and beating Darcy Kuemper on the backhand. Kaapo Kakko scored a dirty goal after using his strength on the boards to keep the puck on play. In addition, Filip Chytil notched an assist. The Rangers are 20-0-2 this season when each member of the lone scores a point.
Larry Brooks noted just how good that Line was today:
Chytil’s unit was primarily matched up against the Caps’ top line that featured Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson flanking Dylan Strome. The Kids — no other forward is younger than 28, so the appellation sticks — more than held their own, owning a shot share of 84.62 percent (11 for, two against), and an xGF of 75.90 percent.
2) K’Andre Miller set the tone, scoring 13:17 into the game on the backhand. He added an assist later on Kakko’s goal and led the team in advanced metrics. Each point he tallies sets a new career-high in that category. His partner, Jacob Trouba, added an assist, and was solid as well.
Overall, the blue line had a okay game. The bottom pair of Ben Harpur and Braden Schneider weren’t great while Adam Fox was so-so. Niko Mikkola continued his strong play, as he has become a key member of the blue line with Ryan Lindgren sidelined. The team still needs to be better in transition defense, especially in picking up their trailer and hand offs, as several chances arose on those type of plays.
3) The newly constituted top six meshed fairly well. Vladimir Tarasenko had a snipe from the left wing after a nice passing play from Panarin to Vincent Trocheck, who let the puck take up additional ice space before he fed Tarasenko. In addition, Trocheck took the backhand shot that resulted in Miller’s opening tally, giving him two helpers on the night.
Kreider-Zib-Kane didn’t generate a ton, except for on Zib’s PPG. But with the Kid Line dominating and the second line producing, the top line wasn’t needed as much. The fourth line was cratered during the contest, but those struggles didn’t end up hurting the team.
4) Team response -when the game got chippy late, there was a collective response. Barclay Goodrow got into it late with Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin, during which those on the ice all rallied to stick up for one another.
With the win, the Rangers improved to 45-21-11, making Gerald Gallant the first coach in team history to notch 100+ points seasons his first two years with the team. New Jersey’s loss to Winnipeg left the Devils 48-21-8, three points north of the Blueshirts with five games remaining. The Hurricanes defeated the Islanders 2-1 and are 49-18-9, six points ahead of the Rangers with a game in hand and three north of the Devils.