There wasn’t much to fixate on through two games of the season, but Reilly Smith’s first go with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider was a natural one to gravitate toward, considering the circumstances of the Rangers’ RW1 history.
And after the line struggled defensively and faded to the background offensively, the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Red Wings on Monday night at Madison Square Garden was a game that saw the trio find their flow.
“I think we’re getting there,” Zibanejad said before the win, in which the Rangers’ No. 1 center recorded his first point of the season after posting just one shot on goal and a minus-3 rating through the first two contests. “I’ve mentioned this many times when you guys ask me about different linemates and this and that. So either it clicks right away, and it’s great — everyone wants that. I think we’re right there. I think there’s a lot of good things that we have and we also continue talking.
“The only way we can get better is obviously working at it and then being able to go back to the tape. Going back to the game and saying, ‘What can we do differently? What can we do more of?’ I thought we’ve been creating some chances, so how can we get to that opportunity more often? Just go from there.
“I think this could be something really good, but obviously we just got to keep working at it. Hopefully with time, we build the chemistry and we build that and we have a different conversation in a couple months.”
The statistics didn’t tell the full story in this one — and they rarely do.
Comparatively speaking, Kreider, Zibanejad and Smith were standouts in this game, while the other lines that make up the top nine dominated the previous two.
Smith scored his first goal as a Ranger in the third period for some insurance, whipping the puck in off Zibanejad’s faceoff win.
Zibanejad then scored an empty-netter to put the game out of reach.
The Rangers top power-play unit is back together for another season — and so is Kreider at the net front.
Kreider broke a 1-1 tie on the Rangers’ fourth power play of the game in the second period, giving the team a 2-for-11 showing through the first three games.
It hasn’t been the most dominant stretch to start the season, but this particular man-advantage stretch took just 8 seconds to capitalize.
Zibanejad zipped a pointed feed that Kreider redirected in for his third goal in as many games, without having to move his stick at all.
The primary assist counted as Zibanejad’s first point of the season.
Alexis Lafreniere scored his second goal of the season and notched his fourth point in just the Rangers’ third game of the season.
Taking a dish from Artemi Panarin, Lafreniere one-timed the puck 5-hole on Detroit goalie Alex Lyon to open up the scoring.
It gave him a three-game point streak to start the 2024-25 season.
Coming into the game wanting to tighten up defensively, the Rangers fell asleep in the final seconds of the first period and allowed Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin to knot the score at 1-all with 1.1 seconds left on the clock.