NEW YORK — The Rangers, clamoring all season for a top-six right wing season, may have caught the NHL off-guard by pulling the trigger three weeks before the trade deadline on Thursday’s deal to acquire sniper Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues.
And then less than three minutes into his Rangers debut Friday against the Seattle Kraken at Madison Square Garden, Tarasenko made Rangers GM Chris Drury look good for acting so early.
Tarasenko got the sellout Garden crowd buzzing when he drove the net to tap in a feed from his longtime friend Artemi Panarin for his first goal as a Ranger, and that started the Blueshirts off on the right skate and on the way to a 6-3 victory that gave them a sweep of their four-game homestand.
