The Rangers extended their win streak to three with a 4-1 win over the Canadiens. New York didn't necessarily dominate but were solid in almost all aspects to notch the victory. The Blueshirts face the Devils in New Jersey at 1pm on Saturday.
Game recap:
A few thoughts: 1) Jaroslav Halak made 17 saves to notch his third straight win. Jaro picked up two wins this week, giving Igor Shesterkin rest and increasing the confidence that the coaching staff has in him. Halak wasn't tested a lot, but did come up big when he was. On the first goal, he made a huge save on the power play, robbing Evgenii Dadonov, and he held the fort after the Habs scored in the third. Halak three straight wins has come after going 1-6-1 in his first eight games
2) Chris Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 7:43 of the second period, scoring a short-handed goal on a breakaway after intercepting a pass by Juraj Slafkovsky intended for Arber Xhekaj at New York's blue line. As per the game story. Kreider has 247 NHL goals, surpassing Steve Vickers for eighth-most in Rangers franchise history. He has two short-handed goals this season, and five in the past two seasons, following nine NHL seasons (2012-21) without one.
After scoring 52 last goals last year, Kreider has 18 in 40 games this season. While his pace has expectedly slowed from 2021-22, he still is on pace for 35+ tallies, which would be a very solid year. Kreider has been up-and-down, but now reunited with Mika Zibanejad and Kaako Kappo, the latter having been great recently, his game looks back on the beam.
3) Braden Schneider has taken his game to another level. The goal was nice, but it's the awareness of when to jump in coupled with his strong defensive play that has made him so valuable. JD trading up to 19 in the first round to steal Schneider will be looked at as one of the better deals under his tenure and possibly the team as a whole down the road.
4) Filip Chytil had a pair of tallies, one to make it 3-0, giving the Rangers three goals in a 5:44 stretch in the second, and an empty-net marker. New York's third line center playing like a second liner is a huge boon and lengthens the lineup substantially. The gains we saw in the playoffs last year were not an aberration, as he has built off that success during the season.
5) Igor Shesterkin was named to the Metropolitan Division All-Star. Voting for the remaining four players to be added to the team for each division kicked off last night. Congrats to Igor on his well-deserved honor.
In earning his first All-Star Game selection, Shesterkin becomes the seventh goaltender in franchise history (Chuck Rayner, Gump Worsley, Ed Giacomin, Gilles Villemure, Mike Richter, Henrik Lundqvist) to be selected to participate in the All-Star Game. https://t.co/nlMwiiWwM2
— NYR Stats & Info (@NYRStatsInfo) January 6, 2023
6) Alexis Lafremiere played in front of his hometown fans last night. He wasn't overly noticeable, though that may be a good and bad thing. Laf was stoned from the slot on the power play with five seconds remaining in the game by Jake Allen
7) One thing to monitor for the Devils' game is that Ryan Lindgren took a cross check from Joel Armia sending him awkwardly into the end boards with 2:32 to go in the game. He didn't return but that may be more so due to the team being on the power play then and to also end the game. But keep an eye on this.