In New York, injuries caused Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette to make some changes to the line up, and shifts in line make up.
For now, those changes are paying dividends as he sees where pieces may fit better than the original plan.
On Thursday night, Alexis Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck each had three points, including a goal each, in a 4-1 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild.
Those changes included bringing Louis Domingue up from Hartford Wolf Pack in the American Hockey League, he made 25 saves in the win.
“It felt amazing, honestly,” Domingue said. “To hear the support of the crowd like that was great. Like I said this morning it’s nice to be on their side for once. My experience tonight was great, and the team played really well in the third to get a win.”
The Rangers improved to 10-2-1.
Trocheck hit for his goal at 3:56 of the opening frame for a 1-0 lad to the Rangers, who dominated the first.
As has been frustrating in the Rangers game, they took the middle frame off, outshot, 15-3, and outscored, 1-0. The Rangers had a 14-2 edge in shots in the first period.
“It was more their fast start than our slow start,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “Yeah, we gave up shots at the net, but there wasn’t a lot of Grade-A scoring chances that we gave up. We weathered the storm.”
Brandon Duhaime tied the game, 1-1, at 12:33 of the second.
The Rangers power play is operating at nearly 40%, and their penalty kill is at 93% effectiveness.
“I do think that when you stay tight defensively and defend hard you’ve got a chance of winning hockey games; that’s been good,” Laviolette said. “The power play has been excellent and that’s really helped inside of the streak. And to me the 5-on-5 is starting to connect a little bit and generate as well. It’s never one thing.”
The Wild dropped to 5-6-2.
“We didn’t like the second period,” the Rangers’ Blake Wheeler said. “Obviously, Minnesota is a really good team, they have a lot of pride, so they probably didn’t like their first period. But it’s not up to the standard that we’ve set in here and that was the communication after the second, that we’re a whole lot better than that.
“We wanted to go out and right off the bat in that third period get back to playing in their zone. ‘Bread’ (Panarin) and ‘Laf’ made a great play for a huge goal for us.”
Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead when scored his goal at 1:41 of the third, for the eventual game-winner, off a brilliant “wait and pass” play from Artemi Panarin.
Wheeler scored off the power play for his first of the season for a 3-1 lead to the Rangers at 14:39.
“It was a good moment to score a goal to extend the lead late in the third period,” Wheeler said. “It was a perfect way to get one.”
Panarin added an empty-net goal with under two left on the clock for the 4-1 final.
Panarin extended his point streak to 13 games; he has
Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in the loss.
“We’ve got to make sure we put in a consistent effort and good play like we did in the second [period],” Fleury said. “Make it consistent for three periods and the odds will be better.”
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