Recap: Alexis Lafrenière’s Hat Trick Powers Rangers to 4–0 Win Over Flames

The New York Rangers are playing the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden tonight. This is the second and final game between the two teams this season, with the first ending in a humiliating 5-1 loss in Calgary back in October. Interestingly, this season the Flames have struggled on the road, while the Rangers have had trouble at home, so tonight's game could go either way.

J.T. Miller was still out of the lineup, so it was expected we'd see the Rangers' newest top line of Lafrenière, Zibanejad, and Perreault stay together. Jonathan Quick got the start and led the Rangers onto the ice.

First Period

The game began with the Flames setting the pace, but as the period went on, the Rangers found their legs. Physicality increased, and Mikael Backlund was called for tripping, sending the Rangers on their first power play of the game about eight minutes in. The Rangers' power play was effective, with multiple crafty passes creating some good chances, but Calgary was just inches from scoring their eleventh short-handed goal of the season after Yegor Sharangovich rang a shot off the crossbar on a breakaway.

Near the end of the period, Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf played the puck behind the net. In his attempt to wrap it around the boards and out of the zone, he lifted it, but it flew into the netting, giving the Rangers their second power play opportunity of the period. Just as the Rangers were setting up in the offensive zone, Olli Maatta cross-checked Trocheck into the boards in a very dangerous play. After a bit of a scrum in response to the penalty, the Rangers would get a two-man advantage for just under two minutes.

The five-on-three started poorly, with the Rangers not connecting and the Flames clearing the puck, but the Blueshirts regained control of the zone and began cycling the puck along the perimeter. Trocheck was set up to rip a one-timer, but his stick shattered upon impact with the puck. Still, the Rangers controlled the play, and as Trocheck went to get a new stick, Adam Fox passed the puck to Zibanejad, who sent a low shot just wide of the net. Alexis Lafrenière, crossing in front of the net, deftly deflected it up and over Wolf's glove for the first goal of the game.

Second period

The Rangers started the middle period exactly where they left off in the first. The Lafrenière-Zibanejad-Perreault line continued their dominance. This season may be a lost cause, but it's been refreshing to see Perreault's confidence and game blossom. Early in the period, he was sprung on a breakaway and felt confident enough to try a fancy move to tuck the puck five-hole. It didn't work, but it will someday soon. I've seen him score with this same deke in the NCAA. Another bright spot has been the Rangers' number one overall goofball, Lafrenière. His strong play since moving on from Panarin has continued into this game.

Will Borgen, behind the Rangers' net, was looking for a long lead pass. He misjudged, and the puck went the full length of the ice. Noah Laba hustled, canceled out the icing, and boxed out Zayne Parekh. Tye Kartye was able to easily tap the bounce off the boards over to Sheary, who slid the puck into an open net. Laba won't get an assist on that goal, but in reality, he's the reason it happened.

Zibanejad made a clever move to retain possession, kicking the puck from his skates back to his stick before sending a perfect pass to Perreault, who rang a shot off the crossbar. On their next shift, after an excellent defensive effort from Schneider to prevent Coronato's potential breakaway, Perreault and Lafrenière teamed up to move the puck up the ice, with Lafrenière hitting a wide-open Zibanejad skating hard into the Flames' zone. Unable to beat Kevin Bahl and his enormous wingspan, Zibanejad decided to turn and send a backhander on net, but Wolf blocked it away.

The magic for the Rangers' newest top line continued, and the broadcast team said it best: "They look like the Globetrotters!" The Rangers moved the puck into the Flames' zone with control, and Fox sent it behind the net. Zibanejad got there first and made a behind-the-back pass between his legs to Perreault in the slot, who shifted his skates and hands to redirect the puck to a wide-open Lafrenière, who scored his second goal of the game.

The Rangers were again inches away from increasing their lead. Adam Edstrom, down low in the Flames' zone, skated to the net and used his long reach to try to move the puck around the netminder, but his shot rang off the iron. The Rangers would skate into the final intermission of the game with a three-goal lead.

Third Period

As the final period started, Calgary was doing their best to get anything going. Matt Coronato fired a sharp-angle shot that Quick had to slide over to stop, but the veteran netminder anticipated the play and made the big save. The Flames grew a bit impatient, as Coronato jumped the gun and was whistled offside, but the Flames would get their best opportunity after Juuso Parssinen was penalized for hooking.

The Flames' power play, while maintaining possession for most of the man advantage, didn't generate many quality chances. Their best opportunity came when Parekh sent a knuckle puck toward the net, but Quick made a big save. As the penalty was expiring, Zibanejad picked up the puck and waited an extra second for Parssinen to fully leave the penalty box, then delivered a perfect lead pass to Parssinen, who fed it over to Sheary. Sheary threw everything he had into a shot on goal, but Wolf made the save.

Coronato's persistence continued as he nearly put the Flames on the board after a great individual effort. He accepted a puck to the side of the net and pulled it between his legs, trying to hold onto it and skate past Quick. Quick stayed with the play, lost his footing, but with a little help from the post, managed to keep the puck out of the net.

Quick's shutout bid continued as he made a save of the year candidate, once again on Coronato. Morgan Frost tapped a pass over to Coronato, who had a wide-open net mere feet in front of him. Quick, making an extra effort, dove and got his glove on the puck, knocking it down and deflecting it wide of the net. The broadcast later showed Coronato on the bench his head down and eyes looking to the heavens in disbelief.

With just over two minutes remaining in the game, Perreault and Lafrenière were off to the races. They passed the puck back and forth, and Perreault set up Lafrenière in the slot during their two-on-one, with Lafrenière firing the puck past Wolf for his third goal of the game. It was his Second career hat trick. Is Gabe Perreault the key to unlocking Lafrenière 's potential? We'll need a larger sample size to be sure, but the Rangers moving on from Panarin might also push Lafrenière to step up and finally become the player the Blueshirts need.

This was a historic game: Lafrenière 's second hat trick, another multi-point effort from the Rangers' newest young forward Perreault, and Quick's 65th career shutout, passing Henrik Lundqvist for 17th all time.