What is this Rangers team right now? Alexis Lafreniere is on fire, Jonathan Quick turned back the clock to record his 65th shutout, Mika Zibanejad continued to be the best Rangers forward, and Gabe Perreault is proving he could be a top line forward. We can thank the JT Miller injury, perhaps the best thing he’s done for this club as its captain, for forcing Mike Sullivan to put that trio together, and it’s given life to the Rangers.
Take everything spoken about for the Flyers game and rinse and repeat it for last night. Lafreniere registered his second career hat trick, continuing to produce in a post-Artemi Panarin world. Lafreniere may not be a generational talent, but he is playing like a first overall pick. We will need to see this continue for more than a few games, but the difference this time is he’s far more engaged.
As for Zibanejad, he racked up points 800 and 801 last night and continued to be a consistent two way force for the Rangers. We all know how revered Mark Messier is to the city of New York, and in 698 games as a Ranger, he potted 691 career points. Mika Zibanejad is in that ballpark, putting up 650 points in 712 games as a Ranger. That’s some perspective for how consistent he has been, even including last year’s off-year. With term left on his deal, Mika will continue to shatter records that were once set long ago by a different generation of Rangers, and maybe one day, we’ll see a 93 in the rafters of MSG.
It will be interesting to see what happens when JT Miller returns, though. The clear answer is to keep this trio together and see what Miller can do with his buddy Vincent Trocheck. But nothing is ever straight forward with this club. Hopefully Sully makes the right call.
How about that Jonathan Quick? Just when you think he is completely washed after what is objectively a bad year for him, he pitches the shutout, moving into 17th all time in shutouts. There were saves made over the course of the game that a 40 year old goaltender has absolutely no business making. The best one will probably be a save of the year candidate where Matt Coronato had a wide open net for the Flames in the third period, and Quick out of desperation made the save to keep his shutout intact.
These may be Quick’s final games, and it was a pleasure watching him turn back the clock last night.
It is really a shame it took until March for this all to be figured out, but better late than never since it bodes well for next season and beyond. Mike Sullivan is learning who he will be able to lean on next season and who is buying into what he is selling. This current top line, which ideally becomes a second line in the near future, is definitely something Sully can count on. Hopefully more players step up as this season comes to an end.