In Tempe, the visiting New York Ranges were collecting and giving away points like jelly beans on a holiday weekend. 
On Saturday afternoon, the Rangers bookended a dreary middle frame with a pair of well-played 20-minute stints of hockey.
Alexis Lafrenière hit for his first career hat trick in an 8-5 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
“You do everything you can to not think about it, but it’s there,” Quick said. “It’s a good feeling to get it over with and get it done and focus on what’s important — winning the division and winning the conference.”
There were plenty of kudos going around after th4e game.
“It’s an honor to play with him and it’s an honor to be part of a night like this,” New York defenseman Ryan Lindgren said. “We didn’t help him out a whole lot, but it’s really cool for him to get that record.”
The Rangers improved to 50-20-4.
“Whether we’re up a couple or down a couple, whatever the situation is, we have that confidence that we’ve won similar types of games throughout the year,” Quick said., “Today it’s up a couple and they tie it up and you get feeling it could go either way, but we found a way.”
Lafreniere scored his first of the game at 14:15 of the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to New York, scoring off an odd man rush with Artemi Panarin.
“What an amazing career for [Quick], and Lafreniere continues to play really well; five points, three goals and his line was dangerous the entire night,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said.
Ryan Lindgren pushed the advantage to 2-0 at 1:59 of the middle frame, scoring form the low slot.
From there, it sort of fell apart, a bit, for the Rangers.
Matias Maccelli trimmed the deficit to 2-1 at 6:27, scoring off a pass from Josh Doan.
Lafreniere potted his second of the game at 6:45 for a 3-1 lead to the Rangers.
Clayton Keller then answered for the Coyotes with a goal at 11:06 for a 3-2 deficit for Arizona.
Nick Bjugstad, then scored at 19:18 to send the game to third period, tied, 3-3.
The Coyotes dropped to 31-38-5, snapping a two=game streak.
“Their pushback, the third period was frustrating,” Arizona forward Lawson Crouse said. “We go in tied and [to] allow them to score three goals is no good. Against the top team in the League, you can’t do that.”
After the dismal defensive effort in the second period, the Rangers broke the game open in the third with three goals.
Chris Kreider put the Rangers up, 4-3, at 5:45 of the third, hitting from his favorite spot at the top of the crease. It was his 300th career NHL goal.
A goal by Kreider in the middle frame had been waved off after review.
Zac Jones scored at 7:16 of the third for a 5-3 lead for New York.
Barclay Goodrow then hit a shorthanded strike at 9:33 to balloon the lead to 6-3.
“Today it was back and forth, a little up-and-down game, but they’ve got a good young team,” Laviolette said. “Sometimes you look at the standings and you can get fooled. So, I was happy with the fact we came out in that third period and we got the job done.”
The Rangers needed every one of those goals as the Coyotes attempted a rally.
Arizona scored twice to get back within one at 6-5.
Lawson Crouse hit off the power play at 12:21 to trim the deficit to 6-4.
“Their pushback, the third period was frustrating,” Crouse said. “We go in tied and [to] allow them to score three goals is no good. Against the top team in the League, you can’t do that.”
Logan Cooley then cut the gap to one at 6-5 with a marker at 14:26.
“We generated enough offense, but we had some major breakdowns, we had some mental mistakes,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “That’s frustrating. The game was there for us [in the third period].”
The Rangers hit for two empty-net strikes for the 8-5 final.
Panarin hit the first at 17:35 to make it a 7-5 lead.
Lafreniere collected his hats at with 15 seconds left on the game clock for the 8-5 final count on the scoreboard.
“It’s good to get that first one,” Lafreniere said. “I’m just playing my game and playing with confidence.”
Quick is now 17-5-2 on the campaign with the Rangers, not bad for a back up.
“He’s been so good for so long, for him to get that milestone is pretty unbelievable,” Lafreniere said.
Use CodePHN15 Quick, 392 wins, Lafreniere, first NHL hat trick share the #PHNChairoftheNight
Karel Vejmelka made 24 saves in the loss.
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