The Blueshirts were back on Garden ice Tuesday night and defeated the Krackheadsen 5-2.
The line of Panarin, Trocheck and Lafreniere stayed hot and opened the scoring for the Blueshirts on this incredible no look pass from the Breadman.
Panarin is playing out of his mind this season and really has something going with Trocheck. It took these guys a while to find chemistry but now that it’s here, it is here to say. Remember, it wasn’t long ago that everyone had 16 penciled in as the third line center of this Rangers team. Since Chytil went down with injury, Trocheck has played 32 games tallying 13 goals, 26 assists for 39 points. He’s making 6.5 million dollars a year playing with an inspired Panarin and a more confident Lafreniere. Sign me up.
Not long after the Rangers recorded their first goal, Seattle responded because isn’t that what the Rangers do? Why keep a lead if you know what I mean?
Regardless, after giving up the tying goal, Gus Bus tied it up for the boys.
The boys went into the room up 1 and that is when Igor had to make 16 saves in the next frame, old man Wheeler potted his 6th of the season-
-and our boy Kaapo Kakko finally got on the scoresheet.
It’s been a while since Kaapo has lit the lamp – November 20 to be exact. It’s been a tough year for the Fin. We all want him to succeed but it’s almost to the point where we nut up or shut up. We can talk about how great he is at protecting the puck in the corners and how he’s not a defensive liability, but the kid needs to start showing up on the box score- tonight was a step in the right direction. I have my fingers crossed that Kaapo comes back with confidence and becomes the player the Rangers think they drafted at number two.
Jonny Lazarus and I talked about this a lot on one of our podcasts this week, which you can watch/listen to below.
Old man wheeler netted another one for his seventh of the year in his second multi-goal game of the campaign and the Rangers went on to win this game 5-2. Two wins at home create some momentum and some swagger – which will both be needed as the Rangers start their west coast trip Thursday against Vegas. Ah, I love 10 o’clock games. Does that make me crazy? I can’t be the only one.
The Morning Skate 