3 Rangers takeaways from 4-1 home win against Red Wings

It wasn’t perfect, but the New York Rangers’ 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at Madison Square Garden was a nice bounce-back performance after their sloppy 6-5 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club two nights earlier.
After allowing six goals against Utah, Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 of 32 shots versus the Red Wings. The Rangers were opportunistic on their scoring chances, and also had a well-crafted power-play goal by Chris Kreider. Their defensive play was more structured — particularly in the first and third periods, not as much in the second.
Like coach Peter Laviolette said postgame, it wasn’t perfect. But it was more representative of who the Rangers must be moving forward.
“That second period, I just thought we were a bit too casual, but the first period I thought was better and the third was also good,” Laviolette explained. “But again, it’s early (in the season) and we continue to work on these things and try to get better at them.
“It’s still a work in progress. It’ll never be perfect.”
Related: Rangers injury update: Ryan Lindgren takes next step in recovery from upper-body issue
3 takeaways from Rangers’ 4-1 win against Red Wings

Here are three key takeaways from the game Monday.
1. Mika Zibanejad answers the bell
Mika ZIbanejad was munus-4 against Utah on Saturday and without a point two games into the season. Certainly not reason to panic with his track record, but a bit eyebrow raising if nothing else.
So, as his individual play, and that of his line with Chris Kreider and Reilly Smith, was scrutinized after one win and one overtime defeat, Zibanejad delivered a big-time performance Monday. The 31-year-old had his first three points of the season, an empty-net goal and two key primary assists. He also led New York with five shots on goal and nine shot attempts, and won nine of 15 face-offs.
He made a slick cross-ice feed for Kreider to redirect home on the power play in the second period, what turned out to be the game-winning goal. He also won an offensive-zone face-off that led directly to Smith’s first goal with the Rangers.
As Zibanejad admitted postgame, though, it wasn’t all great for he and his linemates. Per Natural Stat Trick, that line only had two scoring chances for and a team-worst six against. They did not create a single high-danger chance and allowed two.
Like Laviolette said, not perfect. But certainly the end results were far better.
2. Igor Shesterkin saves Rangers in second period
Remember that reference Laviolette made to the second period not being so great? Well, he wasn’t kidding. The Rangers reverted to some sloppy defensive play and, if not for Shesterkin, they could’ve been in a sizeable hole, instead of holding a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Shesterkin stopped all 14 shots he faced in the second, including seven on one power play that began 2:23 into the period. The Red Wings buzzed his net quite a bit in that middle stanza, but Shesterkin made all the difficult saves, including a beauty with his glove against a wide-open J.T. Compher from in-tight late in the period.
The Rangers stud goalie seems to always bounce back after a subpar showing. It’s in his DNA. And he did that again in the win Monday.
3. No injury concerns for red-hot Artemi Panarin

It seems like ages ago we were fretting about Artemi Panarin being pulled during a pair of preseason games because of a lower-body injury. A question mark to play opening night in Pittsburgh, Panarin instead has been his typical scintillating self over the first three games.
Panarin had three assists Monday and already has seven points (two goals, five assists). He’s the fourth player in Rangers history to record three consecutive multiple-point games to begin a season, after Kreider (2016), Bernie Nicholls (1990) and Mike McEwen (1978).
He logged 20:37 in ice time against the Red Wings and more than 24 minutes against Utah. His keen decision making and high-end skill was on display right away Monday with his slick feed to Alexis Lafreniere on the game-opening goal in the first period, and again on Kreider’s power-play goal with his quick pass to Zibanejad that caught defenders unable to keep up.
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