Weekend Takeaways: Lafreniere finally putting it all together with Rangers

Nobody has time to waste, especially in New York City.

It’s go-go-go in Gotham, so when a first-overall pick — especially the only No. 1 selection in franchise history — takes his sweet time living up to the hype, it triggers a lot of exploding heads.

But, boy oh boy, does Alexis Lafreniere look like he’s ready for Broadway now.

The top pick in the 2020 draft notched two goals on Sunday, one of which pulled the New York Rangers even with the Columbus Blue Jackets with just 11 seconds to go on the Madison Square Garden scoreboard.

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Then, in a shootout where six guys took their best shot, the only one to score was Lafreniere on a beautiful move that saw him swiftly draw the puck to his backhand and stuff it under the bar in one motion.

Game by game, you can feel the angst about this kid — who turned 22 at the start of the season — dissipating.

The fourth-year NHLer is now up to seven goals in 14 games on the season and has recorded at least a point in his past four outings with a 3-4-7 line in that span. After three years where questions about his abilities and the opportunities he was (or wasn’t) given under former coaches David Quinn and Gerard Gallant ruled the day, Lafreniere is putting it all together playing beside Vincent Trochek and Artemi Panarin.

And that’s just part of the story in New York, where Chris Kreider is scoring at nearly a 60-goal pace and Panarin’s 24 points trail Elias Pettersson by one in the Art Ross chase.

We’ve spent most of this season speaking about the defending Stanley Cup champions in Vegas storming out of the gate or the Boston Bruins not missing a beat without Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci. But the Rangers are 9-0-1 in their past 10 under new bench boss Peter Laviolette and would be a perfect 10-0 in that span if not for falling asleep at the wheel in a game in which they led Minnesota 3-0.

All this with Norris-calibre defenceman Adam Fox on injured reserve and No. 1 netminder Igor Shesterkin sidelined since early November with a lower-body issue.

Those names — along with that of Panarin and Kreider — are a reminder of just how much high-end talent already lived on the Rangers roster. If it’s time to officially add Lafreniere to that list, the rest of the league is on notice.

Other Takeaways

• Speaking of high-end draft talent, I think we can safely say none of the top three selections from five months ago are going to be four-year projects. First-overall whiz Connor Bedard netted his second consecutive two-goal game during Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Panthers and is now up to nine tallies on the season. Adam Fantilli, meanwhile, snapped a laser home in that loss to the Rangers, giving the No. 3 pick four goals on the year and a three-game point streak. And the guy sandwiched between those two selections, second-overall stud Leo Carlsson, picked up his first career hat trick with Anaheim on Friday versus Philly and — after adding a helper in Sunday’s win over San Jose — has eight points in just 10 contests this season.

By the way, the guy who might go first overall in 2024 looks ready to take over the world, too.

• As noted, Bedard’s pair couldn’t save the Blackhawks from falling to Florida. That marked the Panthers’ fourth win in a row and the defending Eastern Conference champs have quietly gone 9-2-1 since dropping their first two outings of the season. That’s impressive stuff given the Cats have spent the entire year without their top two D-men in Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour. With both those guys expected to return before too much longer, Florida has more than kept its head above water.

• Edmonton’s awful start may dominate headlines — especially now that it’s cost Jay Woodcroft his coaching job — but don’t sleep on the mess we’re seeing right now in Minnesota. The Wild surrendered five power-play goals and two shorties to the Dallas Stars on Sunday in an ugly 8-3 loss. Minny has dropped three straight games, ranks 26^th in the league by points percentage (.400) and has the 31^st-ranked all-situations save percentage in the NHL at .870.

Weekend Warrior(s)

That goal explosion by the Stars versus Minny was just what Dallas’ struggling power-play unit needed. In the same vein, a St. Louis Blues power play that had been operating at — wait for it — just 2.9 percent through a dozen games got off the schneid by going two-for-four in an 8-2 drubbing of Colorado on Saturday. St. Louis also notched two shorthanded markers, both by Pavel Buchnevich. Throw in the Russian’s PPG and both he and captain Brayden Schenn put up hatties in Denver.

Red and White Power Rankings

1. Vancouver Canucks (11-3-1) The Canucks bounced back nicely from Saturday’s loss in Toronto to top the Canadiens 5-2 in Montreal. Quinn Hughes played an incredible 28:37 for Vancouver, a season-high by more than two minutes.

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2. Toronto Maple Leafs (8-5-2) Saturday’s 5-2 win over Vancouver might have been the Leafs’ best outing of the year, making it a nice note to leave North America on as they glide over to Sweden for a pair of games.

3. Winnipeg Jets (7-5-2) Cole Perfetti is hitting his stride as an NHLer. The 21-year-old scored for the third consecutive game during Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Dallas and now has seven points in his past six contests playing left wing beside centre Vlad Namestnikov and right winger Nikolaj Ehlers.

4. Montreal Canadiens (7-5-2) Prior to Sunday’s setback versus Vancouver, the Habs had a nice Saturday-night win over Boston. Extra-time has certainly been kind to the Canadiens this season, as five of their seven wins have come via overtime or the shootout. Of course, a pessimist would point out Montreal’s total of two 60-minute victories is tied for worst in the league with the San Jose Sharks.

5. Ottawa Senators (6-7-0) Stick tap to Rourke Chartier, who scored his second NHL goal on Saturday and first in just over five years during the 4-1 win over Calgary.

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6. Edmonton Oilers (3-9-1) The Kris Knoblauch era begins Monday in Edmonton when the New York Islanders come to town, as Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Kraken wasn’t enough to convince Oilers brass to roll with the status quo any longer. Deposed coach Jay Woodcroft posted a points percentage of .643 in 133 games behind the bench in Northern Alberta. How much better than that will Knoblauch have to do for the Oilers to actually scrape into the post-season this year?

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7. Calgary Flames (4-8-2) Dustin Wolf’s second career start didn’t go as he hoped in Ottawa, but it will be interesting to see if the highly touted 22-year-old can get a little showcase here while Jacob Markstrom is dinged up.

The Week Ahead

• Hall of Fame weekend wraps Monday night with Henrik Lundqvist, Tom Barrasso, Caroline Ouellette, Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, Ken Hitchcock and (posthumously) Pierre Lacroix all officially being enshrined.

• Sabres captain Kyle Okposo is set to play his 1,000^th NHL game on Tuesday, when the Sabres host the Boston Bruins. What an awesome night for Okposo, who has spoken openly about how difficult his concussion battle was.

• Speaking of captains, Bo Horvat returns to Vancouver on Wednesday. The man who wore the ‘C’ with the Canucks for five seasons is off to a strong start with the Islanders this year, notching 10 points in 12 outings.

• Get ready for some afternoon (and morning) hockey in North America this week as the NHL Global Series swings into action in Stockholm. Thursday sees the Wings and Sens clash; Friday it’s Detroit and Toronto; Saturday features a tilt between Ottawa and Minny and things wrap on Sunday with the Leafs and Wild dueling.

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