NEW YORK — Rangers coach Gerard Gallant had hoped that fatigue had been the main reason for his team's shabby performance in Monday’s loss to Calgary, and he might have been on to something.
Because on Friday, after a couple of practices and a day off, the Rangers were energetic and peppy in putting together a sharp, entertaining performance in a 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden. The victory was the Rangers’ first home win of the season and gave them a split of their two-game homestand before they embark on a four-game road trip.
Two power-play goals by Chris Kreider, three assists each by Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin, and goals by Ryan Strome and Alexis Lafreniere powered the offense, while Igor Shesterkin kicked out 31 shots to earn his third career shutout as the Rangers improved to 5-2-1 on the season.
With Kaapo Kakko returning from injured reserve after missing four games with an upper-body injury, Gallant and the Rangers had their top six forwards healthy for the first time in more than two weeks and the team looked the best it has this season. They jumped out to a fast start, took a two-goal lead in the first period, peppered Columbus (4-3) in the middle period, before Kreider scored his first goal at 1:19 of the third. His second goal and sixth of the season came on a four-on-three power play at 11:23 of the third.
The Rangers' power play had entered with just three goals in their first 26 chances on the season (11.5%). But they were 2-for-3 on Friday. Before the game, Gallant downplayed the power play’s struggles, blaming the poor numbers on bad luck.
"We’ve got three power-play goals,’’ he said. "We could have six or seven very easily. [Mika] Zibanejad, we talked about the other day, he hit two or three crossbars, so that's the difference in looking at 12 percent [success rate] and looking at 25 percent. Is it an Excuse? Yes, I know It’s got to go in the net. I know that, but it hasn't been as bad as the 11 percent or 12 percent, whatever it is.’’
Both of Kreider’s goals came on redirections of great feeds, the first from Panarin, the second from Fox.
Gallant put Kakko back on the right wing of the second line, with Panarin and Strome. But the coach did make a line change when he moved Barclay Goodrow up on the first line, with Zibanejad and Kreider. That meant dropping Lafreniere down to the third line, with center Filip Chytil and winger Sammy Blais.
"I think, on the [last] road trip, you saw they played really well together with ‘Laffy’ down there,’’ Gallant said Thursday of the trio of Lafreniere, Chytil and Blais.
Lafreniere made the move look good when he scored his third goal of the season to make it 2-0 at 15:31 of the first period. Strome had already scored on a rising wrist shot off a feed from Panarin at 12:29.
Gallant had called Lafreniere out after Monday’s 5-1 loss to Calgary, saying he needed "more’’ from the No. 1 overall draft pick of 2020. And at the next day’s practice, Lafreniere said he needed to be more consistent and promised to be better. On his goal Friday, he raced down to the bottom of the right circle to be in the perfect position to one-time home a pass from Fox, who had brought the puck into the Columbus zone along the right wall, then went behind the net, came out the other side and whipped a cross-slot pass to Lafreniere.
