Artemi Panarin scored a hat trick and rookie defenseman Victor Mancini scored his first National Hockey League (NHL) goal as the New York Rangers ravaged the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 at Little Caesar’s Arena on Thursday night.
Everything clicked for Peter Laviolette’s squad in their second straight game against the Red Wings. It started with the Rangers dominating on special teams as they went 3-for-4 on the power play and killed 4 out of 5 penalties.
The Rangers hottest player Artemi Panarin got the road team on the scoreboard first eight minutes into the first period when he received a back-door pass from linemate Vincent Trocheck and fired a wrist shot that beat Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot inside the post.
Troch with the slick feed + Breadman buries it. pic.twitter.com/r1rrFmVkTO
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 17, 2024
Laviolette’s team took a 2-0 lead when the ‘Breadman’ (Panarin) cashed in on the power play this time taking a blistering wrist shot from the point that beat Talbot clean without a screen.
CORNER = PICKED. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/oInP8KNfMo
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 18, 2024
Despite the Rangers blistering start, the hosts pulled one back when Moritz Seider ripped a wrister that beat Rangers netminder Jonathan Quick high over his blocker to cut the deficit in half, just one minute into the second period. At 8:48 gone by in the second period, Vincent Trocheck tipped in a shot from the point by Panarin to give the Blueshirts a 3-1 lead.
Troch with the redirect. pic.twitter.com/nJeAjrSDNJ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 18, 2024
About three minutes later, the Rangers went back to work on the power play. Adam Fox was able to find Panarin left unattended on the left face-off dot inside the Red Wings defensive zone with a beautiful pass for a one-timer that beat Talbot cleanly for Panarin’s third goal of the game. This gave the Rangers a commanding 4-1 lead.
BREAD ON THE MONEY. pic.twitter.com/LAxXhpi4AT
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 18, 2024
38 seconds after Panarin’s hat trick goal, the Rangers third line of Will Cuylle, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko did some great work forechecking. Kakko was able to control the puck below the goal-line and deliver a pass up to Mancini at the point. The Rangers rookie wasted no time taking a wrist shot that beat Talbot to the far side of the net to give the Rangers a 5-1 lead.
Mancini’s first NHL goal = a beauty. pic.twitter.com/a0lH2lACKJ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 18, 2024
Then the Rangers defense got a little bit sloppy and gave up an easy net front goal to J.T. Compher with 3:19 remaining in the game. However, by then the game was out of reach for the Red Wings and the Broadway Blueshirts came to Detroit and picked up their third win of the season.
The Rangers have played four games this season and are undefeated in regulation, suffering only an overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club. Panarin made history on Thursday night becoming the first Ranger in franchise history to have multiple points in each of the first four games of a season. The Breadman also has 11 points on the season which is tied with Evgeni Malkin for the most in the league to date.
The third star of the game was Fox who delivered three assists for the Blueshirts. The second star was Trocheck who had a goal and three assists for his first 4-point game since Dec. 30 of last season. The first star of the game was none other than Artemi Panarin who finished with his eighth career hat trick and an assist. Although he wasn’t one of the three stars, Victor Mancini got the Broadway Hat from his teammates for scoring his first career goal last night.
Happy Friday. 🎩 pic.twitter.com/QVBu5n1rEt
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 18, 2024
What’s Next for the Broadway Blueshirts?
Things get trickier for Laviolette’s squad as they stay on the road to face the Toronto Maple Leafs in their next game on Oct. 19 at 7 pm. The Rangers will need to be on their A game against a Toronto team which has won three straight and is coming off of a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
The Leafs led by Captain and 2023-24 Rocket Richard trophy winner Auston Matthews have scored 14 goals as a team which ranks 13th in the league but the surprise is that they have allowed just seven which ranks fourth in the league.
