The Rangers are now 1-2 in games that require a skills competition — er, shootout — to decide the winner after Saturday night’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Canadiens in Montreal.
Head coach Peter Laviolette has gone with the same first two skaters, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, in all three.
The team’s first shootout in Minnesota on Nov. 4, a 5-4 defeat, came after Vincent Trocheck served as the third shooter. His shot was saved by Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
And when the Rangers won their next one, a 4-3 victory over the Blue Jackets on Nov. 12, it was Alexis Lafreniere who scored the game-winner on an awe-inspiring backhanded shot.
So when it came down to it Saturday night, Laviolette turned to Lafreniere in the third spot once again.
“He’s way up in the lineup for us to shoot,” Laviolette said of Lafreniere, whose shot on Sam Montembeault was saved by the Canadiens goaltender. “We haven’t had a lot of them. We haven’t gone to [many] shootouts. … But he’s high up there. The times that he has shot, he’s done a good job.”
Panarin is 1-for-3 in the shootout this season, while Zibanejad is 0-for-3.
Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick has happened to be in net for all three shootouts this season.
The 37-year-old has denied the Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov, the Blue Jackets’ Patrik Laine and Alexandre Texier, as well as the Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki. The post/crossbar has saved Quick twice.
The Canucks will come into Madison Square Garden just one point behind the Rangers in the standings after they defeated the Devils, 6-4, on Saturday at Prudential Center.
It’ll be the second meeting between the Canucks and Rangers. The first, a 4-3 overtime win for the Rangers, came on Oct. 28 in Vancouver.
Trocheck had another impactful game Saturday night, when he scored the Rangers’ first goal and assisted on the second for his 10th multi-point performance of the season.
Only two Rangers since 2006-07 have had as many games with three or more assists as Trocheck, who has four on the season. He joined Panarin and Jaromir Jagr.
Rangers captain Jacob Trouba leads the entire NHL with 121 blocked shots.
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