‘Emotional’ Panarin helps Kings top Rangers in return to Garden after trade
Artemi Panarin may be the greatest offensive force to call Madison Square Garden home in the 21st century — he’s the only player in New York Rangers history to break the 600-point mark in less than 500 games. So he couldn’t make his Garden return Monday night without putting up at least one point.
The longtime Rangers forward had an assist for the Los Angeles Kings, who won 4-1 in Panarin’s first game back at MSG since the trade that sent him to the Kings for prospect Liam Greentree and two draft picks Feb. 4.
Panarin had a secondary assist on Drew Doughty’s first-period goal while recording two shots on goal in 15:42. He also received a hero’s welcome from the 17,752 fans at MSG during the first-period tribute video.
Artemi Panarin admits he was ‘Emotional’ in his MSG return
Despite the fact he entered play with 12 goals and 18 points in 12 career games against the Rangers, Panarin spoke openly about not wanting to make his Garden return this season this recently after the trade.
So being back at the Garden — where he played 278 regular-season games for the Blueshirts plus 21 more in the playoffs — was “emotional” for Panarin from the minute he saw Rangers fans wearing his jersey from the minute he stepped foot on the ice.
“Emotional, especially warmups,” Panarin said. “When the game started I was better.
“When I stepped on the ice, I’d seen all the Panarin jerseys and all that stuff. … I felt good about it. I spent here almost seven years. I’m proud of it.”
Panarin’s teammates were aware of what the game meant to him.
“Being a new member of our team and fitting in so well — super excited to have him, and we wanted to really do it for him in his homecoming,” center Quinton Byfield said. “Obviously, you could just hear about all the cheers, how much they love him here and how much he meant to the city. It was a big win for us and a big win for Bread.”
Panarin felt the wrath of Vincent Trocheck during his pregame warmup routine and said his ex-linemate gave him a gift before the game — though didn’t say specifically what it was. He said he’ll miss Trocheck, former linemate Alexis Lafreniere and defenseman Adam Fox — and jokingly made his pitch for Kings management to make a deal.
“I’m going to miss them,” Panarin said. “I hope they trade to LA all of them.”
Panarin appeared to get emotional when the Rangers unveiled the signature tribute video — he skated off backwards away from the Kings bench while watching the video — and effectively confirmed that after the game.
“I’m usually skating during commercial breaks,” Panarin said. “I gotta focus on the game, not to try to stop crying.”
Panarin also issued a statement to Rangers fans.
“Thank you very much for support [and] pressure sometimes,” Panarin said, “for everything.”
Panarin said he didn’t feel like himself throughout the game, but the only player to score a hat trick at MSG for three different teams wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to put up a point.
“I was nervous all game,” Panarin said. “I’m glad the guys scored the goals tonight. I was not much thinking about hockey tonight.”
Off of an icing and an Anze Kopitar’s face-off win, Panarin steered a pass to Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson at the point. Anderson found Doughty, who ripped a shot past Igor Shesterkin to give LA a 1-0 lead at 13:29 of the first period.
The Kings picked up a valuable pair of points and will head back to Crypto.com Arena for a Thursday game against the Philadelphia Flyers. But Panarin will also bask in relief that his Garden party is in the past.
“To be honest, I was nervous the whole game,” Panarin said. “I’m glad guys scored the goals tonight, and then got a good win so it was nice. I was not much thinking about hockey tonight.”
