MONTREAL – Talk about a Hollywood ending.
Alexis Lafreniere, the Montreal area kid who was the No. 1 pick overall in the 2020 NHL draft, played his first game as an NHLer in his hometown arena Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens. How did it play out for the 20-year-old St. Eustache, Quebec native? He scored the winning goal, that’s all, to give the Rangers a 3-1 victory, their first victory of the season.
Lafreniere tapped in his first goal of the season from a two-on-one feed by Mika Zibanejad at 9:50 of the third period, 26 seconds after Jonathan Drouin’s goal had tied it 1-1 for the Canadiens. Kevin Rooney sealed it with an empty-netter with 9.4 seconds left.
