You are not reading the game reports from Feb 24. Chris Kreider did get another hat trick on Thursday night to lead the New York Rangers to a 6-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Smith, and Alexis Lafreniere scored the other goals.
The Rangers have tallied five goals in a road game at New Jersey (not including the 2014 Stadium Series, which was technically a Rangers road game at Yankee Stadium) for the first time since Dec.12, 2008.
Igor Shesterkin had 32 saves before leaving late in the third period due to an injury. Alexandar Georgiev came to relieve him and recorded three saves.
After the game head coach David Quinn said in his Zoom conference that Shesterkin has a lower-body injury and that the team will know more tomorrow morning.
If Shesterkin has to miss any time, Keith Kinkaid would likely be called up from the taxi squad.
Chris Kreider gets the second hat trick of the season for the New York Rangers.
With his second hat trick in his last five games, Kreider has recorded a goal/point in five of the last six games. Coming into the game, he was tied for eighth in the NHL in power-play goals and is tied for 13th in the NHL in goals this season, and will be moving up those ranks after tonight’s performance. In addition, Kreider is one of only two NHL players who have registered at least 10 goals and 40 hits this season. He is easily been the catalyst for the Blueshirts recently, has nine goals and two assists over the last 11 games.
There are other New York Rangers who extended streaks.
In addition to his own goal, Lafreniere earned an assist on the Buchnevich goal. He has tallied a point in five of the last six games. He also tallied his first multi-point game in the NHL. Speaking of Buchnevich, he has tallied eight points (four goals, four assists) in the last eight games. He leads the Rangers in points at 5-on-5 this season, and he has notched a point in eight of the team’s nine wins in 2020-21.
Mika Zibanejad spends a large period of time on the New York Rangers bench.
After having only just over three minutes of ice team in the first period, Mika Zibanejad spent the first part of the second period on the bench. He finished with just over 13 minutes of ice-time for the game but did get an assist on the Lafreniere goal.
When asked about Zibanejad’s playing time Quinn said: “I think he’s letting the stats and all the pressure slow him down a little bit. I think it’s getting to him. This is a guy that’s been a fearless and courageous player. He is just trying to find his game.” Quinn also added that he thought Zibnejad played better after the benching.
The two teams will play again on Saturday with a 1 p.m. puck drop.