NEW YORK — The way the Metropolitan Division standings look these days, it seems more and more as if the Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be meeting up with each other in the first round of the playoffs six weeks from now.
So Friday’s game between the teams at Madison Square Garden had the feel of a playoff preview, with the teams battling for second place in the division, and home ice advantage for that series if it happens. In that context, the new-look Rangers no doubt sent a message to the Penguins, and anyone watching, when they jumped on Pittsburgh early and never let up, completing a convincing 5-1 victory.
The teams will see each other again on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, and again on April 7 back at the Garden.
Chris Kreider had two goals and an assist and linemate Mika Zibanejad had three assists, including the 500th point of his NHL career, and Alexis Lafreniere, Frank Vatrano and Andrew Copp had the other Ranger goals. For Copp, it was his first goal as a Ranger.
Lafreniere opening the scoring at 2:07 of the first period, after being replaced on the top line by Vatrano. Lafreniere started the game on the third line, with Filip Chytil and Barclay Goodrow, and coach Gerard Gallant said the reason was because he wanted to move Lafreniere back to his natural left wing position. He had been playing right wing on the top line, with Kreider and Zibanejad.
“He's not going from the first to the third line in my mind,’’ Gallant said before the game. “He's going to play left wing, where he's more comfortable. And you know, it's not fair to the kid sometimes. I'm not going to switch Chris Kreider to the right wing. He's having a career year. with [44] goals and Panarin likes to play left wing. So it's sort of that position that's, you know, we're really strong on the left side. It's not that Laffy hasn't played well on right wing, but I know he plays a lot better on left wing, more comfortable.’’
With the victory, the Rangers (41-19-5, 87 points) pulled within one of the Penguins (39-17-10, 88) in the race for second place in the Metro. Carolina (91 points) leads the division and has a game in hand on the Rangers and two in hand on Pittsburgh. Washington, which played Buffalo Friday, is in fourth place and holding the second wild card position.
The way the NHL playoff matchups work, the winners of each division will play the two wild-card teams in the first round, with the division winner with the best record playing the second wild card and the division winner with the second-best record playing the first wild card. The No. 2 and 3 teams in each division will then play each other.
Lafreniere’s goal was the first of three by the Rangers in a span of 2:09. Kreider’s first goal made it 2-0 at 3:58 and then, on the same shift, Vatrano somehow was all alone just outside the crease and finished off a pass by Zibanejad to make it 3-0 at 4:16.
Pittsburgh thought it had scored a goal at 5:23, but the referee waved it off immediately, and a video review of the play confirmed that Igor Shesterkin (20 saves) had been pushed into the goal by a Penguins player.
The Rangers thus took a 3-0 lead into the second period and made it 4-0 when Kreider finished a short-handed two-on-one break when he one-timed a feed from Zibanejad past Tristan Jarry at 6:37 of the period for his 44th goal of the season.
After the Rangers’ loss Tuesday, Kreider had bemoaned the fact that he got a similar pass from Zibanejad on a shorthanded break in that game, but opted to try to return the pass to Zibanejad instead of shooting. That play turned into a turnover and a Devils power play goal at the other end. This time, Kreider shot the puck and scored.
Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan pulled Jarry at that point, but Casey DeSmith, who replaced him, was forced to leave midway through the period after he was run into by one of his teammates.
Pittsburgh spoiled Shesterkin’s shutout bid with a power-play goal by Jeff Carter at 6:00 of the third period, but Copp ended any thought of a Pittsburgh comeback when he scored with 2:13 remaining to make it 5-1.
