I dare say that no player had ever done so little to earn the Broadway Hat as Alexis Lafreniere did on Sunday since the concept of awarding it to the Rangers’ best player in a victory was inaugurated by Brad Richards at the start of the 2013-14 season.
The symbolism, though, was overpowering when the bauble was given to the 21-year-old in his first game back in the lineup following his healthy scratch in Tampa Bay on Thursday.
It did not matter to Ben Harpur — who’d been in possession of the hat since winning it for his work in the 5-3 victory over the Islanders on Dec. 22 — that Lafreniere hadn’t picked up a point in 11:48 of ice time while getting one of two attempts on net and going minus-one for this 5-3 victory.
But this welcome back — “Great to be back,” Lafreniere said upon taking the chapeau — signified the respect, regard and affection his teammates have for the winger, who had a challenging time of living up to expectations attached to his first-overall selection in the 2020 entry draft.
This is no small thing. If Lafreniere’s effort and work ethic had been wanting, the Rangers would not have made this statement. If his teammates believed the winger conducted himself with a sense of entitlement, his hat would have been handed to him while being shown the door.
Instead, through this gesture that may or may not have been Harpur’s alone, the Rangers embraced Lafreniere at one of the lowest moments of his two-plus seasons in the NHL.
What are the best post-Kid Line lines?
Kaapo Kakko’s success playing up with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad should effectively put an end to the Kid Line. No. 24 is proving the most complementary piece on the right since Pavel Buchnevich was sent to St. Louis following the 2020-21 season. You might even remember the deal.
The challenge now for head coach Gerard Gallant is to find the combination(s) that would best suit Lafreniere and Filip Chytil.
To that end, it would be interesting to see more of the Vitali Kravtsov-Chytil-Julien Gauthier unit that played so well in their one game intact in Thursday’s 2-1 shootout defeat in Tampa. Yes, it was a small sample size of 9:37, but the trio’s combined shot share of 85.71 percent, scoring chance rate of 70.0 and xGF% (expected goals-for percentage) of 85.71 reflected a performance that was at times electrifying. Each wing was sprung for a breakaway as the line used its speed and creativity. It was as fun a group as the coach has constructed this season.
But with Gallant later saying his “perfect lineup” does not include that unit, the Lightning match seems to have been a one-and-done. Lafreniere is back with Chytil, Kravtsov is up with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck and Gauthier is back on the fourth line. Where else?
The coach’s reluctance to give Gauthier a shot at steady top-nine minutes (let alone top-six, heaven forbid) remains a mystery given the winger’s ability to drive the net and get the puck in deep. No. 12 has played in 27 games, recording five goals and eight points. He has been on the fourth line in 21 of those 27 contests.
Lafreniere, meanwhile, played 32 games on top-six combinations last season. I’m not sure why Gallant is so reluctant to play him with Panarin and Trocheck (and shift Kravtsov back onto Chytil’s flank) unless it comes down to the coach not believing No. 13 is comfortable or particularly effective at right wing.
Kudos for Kravtsov
Kravtsov showed impressive fortitude and bounce-back on the two-game swing through Florida that followed last Tuesday’s game at the Garden in which the winger was manhandled by Dmitry Orlov and the Caps.
Though he could not quite get to the net and could not quite finish, Kravtsov competed in the tough areas, won battles and created scoring chances for himself and his linemates as the 23-year-old becomes more comfortable and confident on NHL rinks.
Back on backup track
It took a little longer than anticipated, but Jaro Halak is providing the Blueshirts with the type of backup netminding to which they had become accustomed in the Henrik Lundqvist Era of Excellence, most notably from Martin Biron, Cam Talbot and Antti Raanta. (Honorable mention to Buffalo killer Mackenzie Skapski.)
Biron went 22-15-3 with a .908 save percentage and 2.47 GAA. Talbot went 33-15-5, .931, 2.00. And Raanta was 27-14-4, .921, 2.25 while wearing the Blueshirt.
I’m always reminded of how it chapped Lundqvist when John Tortorella, the head coach at the time, would sit The King in Montreal and go with Biron because he believed the backup did a better job “settling the team down.”
Tortorella might have been thinking back to that night when Lundqvist was screaming at Scott Gomez when the center did not pick up a man at the crease.
Maybe.
