Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere named NHL First Star of the Week
New York Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere’s best four-game stretch of the season was rewarded Monday when he was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week for the week ending March 15.
The first player taken in the 2020 NHL Draft led the Rangers to a 4-0-0 week – their first four-game winning streak since Oct. 14-18, 2024 – by leading the NHL with five goals and tying for the lead with seven points. That included his second NHL hat trick in a 4-0 win against the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden on March 10.
Two of his goals – against the Flames and the previous night in a 6-2 victory over the Flyers in Philadelphia – were game-winners, giving him a team-leading total of five this season and 24 for his career.
Lafrenière then chipped in a goal and an assist in New York’s 6-3 road win against the Winnipeg Jets on March 12 before being held off the score sheet two nights later in the Rangers’ 4-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild.
The 24-year-old has been on a tear since scoring twice and adding an assist in the Blueshirts’ 6-5 loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Jan. 31. He has nine goals and 15 points in his past 11 games entering Monday’s home contest against the Los Angeles Kings, giving him 44 points (19 goals, 25 assists) in 66 games this season.
He had 28 shots on goal and 21 individual high-danger scoring chances in all situations during those 11 games.
Lafreniere is playing with the kind of commitment and confidence he’s rarely shown during his first five-plus seasons on Broadway, and it’s doing wonders for his numbers.
“Just playing with a little bit more confidence,” he said after the hat trick against the Flames. “Skating a little better, hanging onto pucks a little bit more in the neutral zone offensively. Just trying to put myself in better spots to get the puck.”
Alexis Lafreniere is NHL’s First Star of the Week
Most notable is Lafrenière’s work away from the puck, which is putting him in position to get passes in prime scoring areas — along with a more assertive all-around game.
Lafreniere has taken plenty of criticism since signing a seven-year, $52.15 million contract extension ($7.45 million average annual value) in October 2024, for his underwhelming play and failure to live up to his contract. Aside from 2023-24, when he had career highs with 28 goals, 29 assists, and 57 points, there’s been a common sentiment among Rangers fans that, at best, Lafreniere isn’t living up to his potential – and at worst, he’s a bust.
But that talk has vanished now that he and new linemates Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault have caught fire.
Coach Mike Sullivan said last week he credits Lafrenière’s success to the way he’s been able to expand his game offensively.
“I think one of the things we’ve tried to encourage Laf to do a little bit more of was finding ways to create offense in different ways,” Sullivan said. “He’s adding a dimension to his game that we’ll call the grind game, where he can create offense underneath the hash marks from below the goal line, getting inside, whether it be a net front, tips, deflections, rebounds, things of that nature.
“I think he’s just adding that dimension to his game a little bit more consistently. It’s hard to score consistently in this league if you don’t have that element to your game. I think he’s doing a better job in that aspect of his offensive game.”
The Rangers and their fans can only hope that the hot streak continues.
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (3-0-0, 1.65 goals-against average, .940 save percentage), earned the Second Star, followed by St. Louis Blues forward Jimmy Snuggerud (three goals, six points in three games).
