Rangers vs. Red Wings: Gabe Night
Hard to be mad when Gabe Perreault goes off for a hat trick. But the Rangers keep winning themselves out of good lottery positioning.
- I was all ready to have an explosion about the New York Rangers continuing to win hockey games when they shouldn't, with players in positions they should not be (looking at you, Conor Sheary), and winning games that don't actually accelerate the greater good. However, Gabe Perreault scored three of the Rangers' four goals, and Jaroslav Chmelar scored the other. Hard to hate on the kids doing good kids things.
- Perreault had a hell of a game, and it's a shame it took this long for Mike Sullivan to give him real top-line minutes. The goals were all a perfect encapsulation of the different things he does well. The first is just positioning himself in the right spot and picking a corner in the slot. The second is using his speed to sneak by a defender and tap in a pass. The third is hard work and popping one into the empty net. It's been a long time since the Rangers have had a player of this ilk be this young (seriously, I think J.T. Miller is the name). Let's hope his career continues on the up and up.
- The Rangers have done serious damage to their tank odds, though. They were never getting the top lottery odds, but they have completely won themselves out of good odds of getting to second place. And in truth, they probably won't get to third now, either.
