Rangers Recall: A Quick Laf to end a hard March
The New York Rangers went into March looking at 14 games over the span of 29 days. Those contests included seven versus the top-10 in the standings and nine against teams in the top-15 when the month began.
A daunting task, that was made more difficult when defenseman Jacob Trouba went down with a lower-body injury after a 4-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on March 4 and missed 11 games. That was followed by an injury to another blue-liner when Ryan Lindgren left the 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders with a lower-body injury on March 17, causing him to miss four games. The Blueshirts would lose another starting defenseman in a 4-3 shootout win over the Panthers on March 23, as Erik Gustafsson was elbowed in the head and is still out day-to-day.
So how did the Rangers respond to all of these challenges?
New York went 10-3-1, and are currently riding a five-game winning streak. They also beat the likes of the Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, and Colorado Avalanche while watching young players like K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider, and Zac Jones rise to the occasion reinforcing a promising future on defense.
Oh! And they picked up a few milestones along the way.
Related: Chris Kreider hits milestone goal 300
New York Rangers Amazing March Milestones
The Rangers concluded the month of March in a game full of milestones by beating the Arizona Coyotes 8-5 on Saturday.
Jonathan Quick owned the night by turning aside 27 shots to record win 392 of his amazing career. That gave him sole possession of 15th on the all-time win list for NHL goalies, and also made him all-time winningest American-born goaltender surpassing Ryan Miller.
“Grateful we got a couple of empty netters to close it out,” a smiling Quick said afterwards. “It’s a good feeling to get it done and focus on winning the division.”
The offensive star of the night was Alexis Lafrenière, who not only registered his first career NHL hat trick, but notched a career-high five points (three goals, two assists) in one game. Meanwhile, Chris Kreider registered his 300th career goal becoming the third-fastest Ranger to hit that benchmark (807 games), and Adam Fox picked up two assists to reach 300 points in just his 349th game. Only Brian Leetch (295 GP) did it faster with the Blueshirts.
“What an amazing career for Quick,” coach Peter Laviolette praised. “And what a game for Lafrenière. ‘Foxy’ with a milestone, and Kreider with a milestone. Big performance for a big win.”
Let’s look at some of the other great accomplishment in March:
- Artemi Panarin hits 100 points in a 6-5 OT win over the Philadelphia Flyers on March 26 becoming just the seventh Ranger in franchise history to break the century mark. He also reached the 500 assist milestone in his career on March 16.
- Peter Laviolette coached his 1500th game in a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins and then recorded his 800th victory on March 26 against the Flyers.
- Mika Zibanejad notched his 100th power play goal with the Rangers on March 26, becoming just the sixth player in franchise history to do so.
- Chris Kreider also played in his 800th career game (all with the Rangers) on March 16.
- Igor Shesterkin played in his 200th career game (all with the Rangers) on March 9.
- K’Andre Miller registered career point 100 (all with the Rangers) on March 16.
- Vincent Trocheck notched his 500th career point on March 2 and played his 700th game on March 9.
- Alex Wennberg played his 700th career game on March 19.
More About:New York Rangers News