Saturday began with Alexis Lafrenière being toasted and teased in the New York Rangers locker room after signing his lucrative new contract. It ended with another Rangers win, this one maybe a bit of a surprisingly difficult one against a young Anaheim Ducks squad that showed plenty of moxie.
Jonathan Quick was superb, making 32 saves, and Will Cuylle’s goal proved to be the winner in a 2-1 victory. Cuylle had a goal overturned on an offside challenge for the second time this season but came back on his next shift to convert a Kaapo Kakko pass at 11:53 of the third — though that one had to withstand an NHL Situation Room review for a possible kicking motion.
The Rangers moved to 6-1-1 on the season and put their first dud of the season, Thursday’s loss to the Panthers at the Garden, behind them with a strong effort, even if it wasn’t a dominating performance.
Laf cashes in
Lafrenière hugged Artemi Panarin when the left wing walked into the dressing room Saturday morning. Lafrenière had just signed his seven-year, $7.45 million average annual value deal. His linemates, Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, were pumped for him, and they joked they wanted a reward for their contributions to his success. Panarin, for one, wants a helicopter.
“I’ll just ride in Bread’s helicopter,” Trocheck laughed.
“They’re talking about it,” Lafrenière said with a smile. “I’ll have to wait until I actually get the money and see what I do with it.”
Lafrenière said his agent and the Rangers talked about a deal during training camp, and then negotiations accelerated the past couple of days. He said the sides discussed different options of length but Lafrenière felt satisfied with the seven-year term.
“It feels good,” Lafrenière said. “I’m happy to be done with it and am fired up to stay for seven more years.”
So are the Rangers.“Young player who has played really well, really came into his own last year and started off the year well this year,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “Any time something like that happens it’s pretty exciting.”
Lafrenière picked up his eighth point of the season on Saturday, getting a touch on Panarin’s feed from behind the Ducks net before Ryan Lindgren cashed it in for the game’s first goal. Lafrenière also was on the receiving end of a big Radko Gudas hit in the third.
Bubble and all, Ryan Lindgren finally breaks the deadlock in the third period 🎯 pic.twitter.com/yBg2eO5DdF
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 27, 2024
Panarin dishes — and defends
Panarin kept his point streak alive with the setup for Lindgren — No. 10 has 15 points, temporarily tied for the league lead, and points in all eight Ranger games — but his biggest play may have been at the other end of the ice in the third.
Holding the 2-1 lead with less than four minutes to go, Panarin came down low in the defensive zone to get a stick on Alex Killorn, who had an open side off a rebound to tie the game. Panarin’s play without the puck isn’t usually the most noticeable part of his game but this was a key play at a key moment and he certainly has a knack for those.
Cuylle shakes off another overturned goal
“I can’t remember them all,” Cuylle joked after the game about yet another of his goals taken off the board on Saturday. That’s two this season and at least four since he got to the NHL last year. He was in the Ducks zone ahead of the puck before he converted his own rebound for an apparent 2-0 lead in the third, so there isn’t much to argue, but it’s still a ridiculous situation.
And his goal that counted did go off his skate and there appeared to be some kicking motion involved, but the league’s standards for such goals have changed over recent seasons — goals off skates are normally disallowed only if the kicker propels a stopped puck into the net or the kick reverses the movement of the puck. This was a pass, so it stood. Much to Cuylle’s relief.
Quick wins a goaltender’s duel
After an 18-shot first period for the Rangers on Saturday it looked like Quick might not see a lot of action. Lukas Dostal was sharp in the Anaheim net but it was Quick, especially in the middle period, who shined brightest. Quick flashed his glove to deny Mason McTavish on a Ducks power play in the second with the game still 0-0 and Quick’s acrobatics were needed over a couple of stretches in the third.
The Ducks have only scored 14 goals in their seven games, but their array of young talented players has them primed for rush-scoring chances. Quick was his usual energetic self in net, ducking and bobbing to find shots through traffic and getting out to challenge the Ducks shooters.
This was win No. 395 for Quick, who now sits just five wins away from becoming the first American goalie to reach 400 wins.
(Photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
