Historic Night for the New York Rangers
Photo Credit: Matt York / AP Photo
On Saturday evening, Mar. 30, the New York Rangers beat the Arizona Coyotes 8-5 in a wild scoring game. While the box score tells people who didn’t watch the game a simple story about how the Rangers scored a lot of goals, it doesn’t do a true justice for how much this win meant. Records were broken and new milestones were set, as the Rangers continue to dominate the 2023-24 NHL regular season.
The most noteworthy performance came after goaltender, Jonathan Quick, picked up his 392nd win as a starter. That puts him at number one all-time in wins by an American born goalie. After 778 games, he finally smashes Ryan Miller’s record; something that he had his eyes set on the entire season.
Photo Credit: The Hockey News
While a new record was set, more achievements came during the Rangers big win as well. New York’s assistant captain, Chris Kreider, hit the 300 career goal mark and star defenseman, Adam Fox, scored his 300th NHL point. Kreider remains at third place in the Rangers all-time goal scoring list, but he is just 36 goals away from tying second place. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he even went past that mark, and was the franchise’s goal leader when his career is all said and done. He is truly the definition of a franchise player when it comes to his tenure in the Big Apple.
Adam Fox’s milestone seemed to go unnoticed among all the other craziness during the game, but his impact on the ice is always noticed. He is on his way to being one of the team’s all-time greats, and this is just a small step towards cementing himself in that conversation.
The career night for many players finally ended with an empty net goal by Alexis Lafreniere, which put him up to three goals on the night; a hat trick. It is the former number one overall draft pick’s first career hat trick, and his first five point game, since he also had two assists. Lafreniere is playing up to everyone’s standards and not looking back this season. He is now over the 50 point mark and on his way to being a star in this league.
While individual accomplishments are always nice, the team as a whole hit a new landmark; 50 wins. They are the first team in the league to reach that number and are still three wins ahead of second place. It appears the Presidents’ Trophy might be going to New York this year, while the team is still looking for more wins every night.
“We’ve been doing this all year. It’s a fun team to be a part of. These guys work hard every day. They push each other. That’s what you need. You need that. Every great team has that.”
This is certainly a special season for the Rangers thus far, but one question still remains:
Can they go all the way?