NEW YORK — For most of the season, Gerard Gallant has had to figure out where exactly to put Alexis Lafreniere. On Wednesday, that place ended up being the bench — the first healthy scratch of Lafreniere’s career. On Saturday, it was the highlight reel.
The 2020 No. 1 overall pick came back from his load maintenance day and put on a show: scoring two goals, including a between the legs deke that beat Thomas Greiss and got the Madison Square Garden crowd to its feet as the Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings, 4-0.
The Rangers did, however, lose Kaapo Kakko to a lower-body injury in the first period — the reason for Lafreniere’s increased ice time.
In short, it might’ve been a postseason tune-up, but the Rangers were hardly afraid to rev the engine. The Rangers outshot the Red Wings 37-19, as Igor Shesterkin made 19 saves.
Greiss and Sam Gagner got called for delay a game within 31 seconds of each other for the Rangers three-on-five, and Mika Zibanejad teed off on Artemi Panarin’s feed — the one-timer sneaking under Greiss’ blocker to give them the 1-0 lead with 6:16 left in the first period. It was the 90th point of Panarin’s season, putting him in sight of 100 with six games left. His career high is 95, accomplished during the 2019-2020 season. He’s only the sixth Ranger to have multiple 90-point seasons with the team. The Rangers, meanwhile, outshot the Red Wings 17-3 in the first.
The Rangers tacked on another one at 3:46 of the second, Zibanejad swung it over to Frank Vatrano, whose snap shot from the slot was good for his 100th career goal and 17th of the season. Since joining the Rangers in a trade with the Panthers days before the deadline, Vatrano has amassed seven goals and 11 points in 16 games.
It wasn’t all good news for the Rangers, though: With about five minutes left in the first, Kakko got tangled up with Tyler Bertuzzi, fell awkwardly and, after a few seconds, left for the dressing room and didn’t return. This was only the fourth game back for Kakko, who missed 31 contests with an upper-body injury, and if the injury is serious, that could spell bad news for the Rangers.
On Wednesday, Gallant said the third line of Kakko, Barclay Goodrow and Filip Chytil was his best of the night — an indication of the direction he might take once the playoffs begin. And Saturday, Lafreniere, who scored twice in the third period, was moved to the fourth line with Kevin Rooney and Dryden Hunt but ended up logging more minutes after the Kakko injury left the Rangers with 11 forwards. Lafreniere, who earned the first healthy scratch of his career Wednesday, scored at 4:37 of the third, snapping an eight-game point drought, and again at 14:17.
