Thanks to a deflection a little in spite of himself, Alexis Lafrenière scored an important goal in the New York Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks, Wednesday night, at Madison Square Garden.
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It is said that sometimes all it takes is being in the right place at the right time and buzzing around the net often pays its dividends.
The Quebecer understood this lesson well, which allowed him to add an eighth goal this season, at the start of the second period.
Defenseman Jacob Trouba’s blue line shot first deflected off Anthony Beauvillier’s stick blade before ricocheting off Lafrenière’s skate, positioned near the crease. The latter was quicker than goaltender Spencer Martin to spot the puck and had no trouble pushing it behind the red line.
K’Andre Miller went even better with three assists, a career high so far.
Lafrenière’s net seemed to be the one that made the difference, but late in the third period his teammate Mika Zibanejad hit the target and then Elias Pettersson closed the gap, but to no avail. On the game, Beauvillier collected his first point in a Canucks uniform.
If Trouba had stood out on Monday with solid shoulders against the Calgary Flames, this time he blackened the score sheet with two assists.
Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider also shook the ropes for the Blueshirts. For the latter, it was a 250th career goal. The striker now has as many as Mark Messier, seventh in Rangers history.
Igor Shesterkin blocked 22 shots in the win. In addition to Pettersson, Conor Garland and Vasily Podkolzin scored at his expense.
Stars too strong
In Dallas, the Central Division leaders, the Stars, continued their Western Conference dominance by beating the Minnesota Wild 4-1.
The local favorites posted a 30th victory in 2022-23, taking a five-point lead over the Winnipeg Jets with 70. In the midst of a fight for a playoff ticket, the Wild (58 points) missed a great opportunity to climb the rankings.
Dean Evason’s squad have lost their two duels since returning from the All-Star Game break.
Jamie Benn opened the scoring just 23 seconds into the second period, hitting the target for the 20th time this season. For the captain of the Stars, this is the 10th campaign where he has reached this plateau, but the first time since 2018-2019.
Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz had two points. Radek Faksa could have done the same, he who scored in the second period, but who could not materialize on a penalty shot later in the game. Defender Jani Hakanpaa completed the scoring.
Joel Eriksson Ek was the only player able to beat Jake Oettinger, who was fuming with 39 saves.