MONTREAL – Talk about a Hollywood ending.
Alexis Lafreniere, the Montreal area kid who was the No. 1 pick overall in the 2020 NHL draft, played his first game as an NHLer in his hometown arena Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens. How did it play out for the 20-year-old St. Eustache, Quebec native? He scored the winning goal, that’s all, to give the Rangers a 3-1 victory, their first victory of the season.
Lafreniere tapped in his first goal of the season from a two-on-one feed by Mika Zibanejad at 9:50 of the third period, 26 seconds after Jonathan Drouin’s goal had tied it 1-1 for the Canadiens. Kevin Rooney sealed it with an empty-netter with 9.4 seconds left.
The victory improved the Rangers’ record to 1-1-1 as they started a four-game road trip that will continue with a game Monday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
Lafreniere had to wait a year to play his first NHL game in his hometown, because NHL teams played a 56-game season in his rookie season in 2020-21, with teams playing intra-division games only. The Rangers and Canadiens did not face each other.
The night was not all great for the Rangers, who played without second-line center Ryan Strome (COVID-19 protocol) and then lost Kaapo Kakko for the final two periods with an upper-body injury.
The loss of Strome and Kakko leave the Rangers short of talent in their top two lines, a problem exacerbated by the situation involving Russian winger Vitali Kravtsov, who refused to report to AHL Hartford when the Rangers assigned him there Monday as they cut down to their 23-man opening night roster.
Kravtsov had been expected to make the team out of training camp, and it was a surprise that he didn’t. But because he did not need to be paced on waivers, and Dryden Hunt, Julien Gauthier and Libor Hajek did, Kravtsov got sent down. It was probably only going to be temporary, but Kravtsov refused to go, and now he is suspended by the team and has been given permission to seek a trade.
Had he been available, Kravtsov would surely be in line to be called back up from Hartford and would have figured to play a significant role, at least for as long as Strome and Kakko remain out.
As troublesome as it was for the Rangers to play without Strome, the one good thing about his absence was that it offered a chance for coach Gerard Gallant to get a look at Filip Chytil in an expanded role. With Strome out, Chytil, 22, moved up from his third-line role to take Strome’s usual place between Artemi Panarin and Kakko.
"I’m just happy to play with those two,’’ Chytil said after Saturday’s morning skate at the Bell Centre. "They're great players.’’
It only lasted for one period, though, before Kakko left the game with an upper-body injury.
The game was scoreless at that point, but the Canadiens started taking penalties, one after the other, four in all in the second period. And eventually, the Rangers cashed in, when Chris Kreider tipped a shot by Zibanejad that went hit the skate of Montreal defenseman Alexander Romanov and ricocheted in behind Canadiens goalie Jake Allen. That put the Rangers ahead 1-0 at 9:59 of the middle period.
If not for all the Canadiens’ penalties, Montreal might have been in control against the undermanned Rangers. Despite being shorthanded much of the second period, the Canadiens managed to outshoot the Rangers, 13-8 in the session, and only some brilliant work by goalie Igor Shesterkin – his most fantastic save came on a snazzy glove grab of a deflection in front by Cedric Paquette at 14:22 – kept the Rangers on top.
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