Pregame Notes: Rangers vs. Canadiens

RANGERS RUNDOWN

• The New York Rangers host the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night (7:00 PM ET - TV: MSG Network - Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM). The Blueshirts won’t play outside of New York/New Jersey until February 24 in Philadelphia.
• New York has wins in five-straight games and points in seven of its last eight games (6-1-1). This is the Rangers’ second winning streak of five or more games this season (6 GP - Oct. 21-Nov. 2). The Blueshirts are one of seven teams (BOS, EDM, FLA, PHI, VAN, WPG) to have two seperate winning streaks of five-plus games.
• The Blueshirt’s 34 wins are the second most in the NHL and their 71 points rank fourth in the league. At home, the Rangers have won 18 games, tied for the third most in the NHL.
• New York has six players (Kreider, Zibanejad, Panarin, Trocheck, Fox, Lafreniere) with 30 or more points and four players (Kreider, Panarin, Trocheck, Zibanejad) with 15-plus goals, tied for the third most in the NHL.
• Against Montreal, the Blueshirts have points in six of their last eight contests dating back to Feb. 2020.
• In the last 21 games (since Dec. 27), Artemi Panarin (24 pts) and Vincent Trocheck (19 pts) have recorded a combined 43 points (20G-23A).
• When allowing three goals or fewer in a game this season, the Rangers have a 32-2-2 record.
• New York has the NHL’s fifth best power play percentage (25.6) and fifth best in penalty kill percentage (83.7). Carolina is the only other team to have both in the top-5.
• With a 28.4 clip, the Rangers allow the sixth fewest shots on goal per game in the NHL.
• The Blueshirts have 22 wins when scoring first, tied for the third most in the NHL (Vancouver leads with 27).
• The Rangers’ 53.9 faceoff percentage is the fifth highest in the NHL. Since 1997-98 when the league started tracking FOW%, the team hasn’t finished a season over 53.3 percent.
• New York has accumulated 127 points from defensemen this season, the fourth most in the NHL.
• The Blueshirts have 16 comeback wins this season and eight when trailing in the third period, both tied for third in the NHL.

RANGERS AND CANADIENS CONNECTIONS

- Erik Gustafsson played five games for the Canadiens in 2020-21, notching two assists.
- Alex Belzile has played all 41 of his NHL games with the Montreal (2020-21 - 2022-23).
- Jeff Gorton was GM of the Rangers from 2015-2021 and was a part of the Rangers organization from 2007-2021. - Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis played for the Rangers from 2013-14 – 2014-15.
- Benoit Allaire served as Goaltending Coach with the Canadiens for one season (1996-97).

PANARIN’S POINTS

Artemi Panarin has points in five of his last eight games (4G-3A), eight of his last 12 games (5G-5A), 18 points in his last 18 games (8G-10A). He has notched a point in 42 games this year, tied for the second most in the NHL.

Panarin ranks seventh in the NHL in goals (31) and tied for eighth in points (68).

He has reached 30 goals in a season for the fourth time in his career and is the only active undrafted player to accomplish the feat.

His 31 goals are tied for the second most of his career.

NEW YORK NETMINDERS

Igor Shesterkin has 21 win on the season and has earned points in four of his last five starts. Shesterkin has allowed two or fewer goals in 16 of his 21 wins. Shesterkin’s 21 wins rank sixth in the NHL.

Jonathan Quick has won three-straight starts, allowing two or fewer goals in all three. Quick is the oldest goaltender in franchise history with a three-game winning streak and the second active netminder with a run of that length at age 38 or older, joining Marc-Andre Fleury (7 GP & 3 GP in 2022-23).

Quick holds a 12-4-2 record this season. Among goaltenders with 18 or more starts, he ranks third in goals-against average (2.27) and fifth in save percentage (.919).

He is two wins away from tying Dominik Hasek for 15th most in NHL history (389) and four wins from tying Ryan Miller for the most wins among American-born goaltenders (391).

FORECHECK, BACKCHECK, TROCHECK

Vincent Trocheck ranks first in the NHL (min. 700 FO) in faceoff percentage (61.9) and is the only player in the NHL to have 45 or more points, 60 or more hits, and 40 or more blocked shots.

Trocheck has 14 points in his last 17 games (6G-8A).

KREIDING TO MAKE HISTORY

Chris Kreider has 24 goals this season, points in seven of his last 11 contests (4G-7A) and nine of his last 14 games (4G-9A). This season, Kreider has changed the Rangers record books:

• Surpassed Adam Graves for the third most goals in Rangers history (281)
• Surpassed Adam Graves for the 10th most points in team history (508)
• Recorded his 500th career point
• Surpassed Camille Henry for the fourth most road goals in franchise history (137)
• Tied Bill Cook for the third most game-winning goals in franchise history (42)
• Became the fifth Ranger to tally 100 career power play goals
• Recorded his 166th career goal at MSG (regular season and playoffs) to surpass Rod Gilbert for the most in the building’s history
• Notched his ninth 20-goal campaign in his career. Only two players in franchise history have recorded as many: Rod Gilbert (12x) and Jean Ratelle (9x).

NEXT ON FOX

Adam Fox has points in six of his last nine games (1G-8A) and 10 of his last 16 games (5G-10A).

Fox recorded his 30th assist of the season on Feb. 9 at Chicago and became the sixth player, second defenseman, in Rangers history to record 30 assists in each of his first five seasons with the franchise, joining Mark Messier (6), Phil Goyette (6), Artemi Panarin (5), Reijo Ruotsalainen (5) and Phil Esposito (5).

Since the 2019-20 season, Fox ranks fifth among NHL defensemen in points (274) and second in assists (230).

SLAP SHOTS

• Mika Zibanejad has points in seven of his last 11 games (2G-7A) and four points (1G-3A) in his last five games.
• Will Cuylle ranks first among rookies and tied for fifth in the NHL in hits with 170. He has a plus/minus rating of even or better in 43 of 53 games this season (43 games with a plus/minus rating of even or better are most on the Rangers and most among all NHL rookies). He also has points in three of his last five games (1G-2A).
• Jacob Trouba’s 148 blocked shots are the third most in the NHL. Trouba is the only player in the NHL to have 125+ blocked shots and 125+ hits.
• Alexis Lafreniere has goals in three of his last five games.
• Jonny Brodzinski has a point streak of three games (2G-1A) and has five points in his last five games (3G-2A). His four goals match a career-high originally set in 2017-18 with Los Angeles.
• Blake Wheeler has four points in his last six games (2G-2A) and six points in his last 11 contests (4G-2A).
• The Rangers have a regular season record of 43-11-6 when Kreider and Zibanejad score a goal in the same game.