Rangers on top
Thump Oilers to grab No. 1 spot in entire NHL
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant was looking for a strong group effort against the Oilers. He got that on Monday night, and now his team is sitting atop the NHL standings.
Chris Kreider scored his 20th goal, Ryan Strome notched a goal and two assists, and the Rangers beat the slumping Oilers, 4-1, for their third straight win.
“When we talked before the game, we talked about 20 guys playing, and 20 guys showed up to play hard, so that was huge for our group,” Gallant said. “We got the lead again and just kept going.”
Alexis Lafrenière and Barclay Goodrow each scored a goal and picked up an assist, and Adam Fox assisted on two goals to help the Rangers win for the fourth time in six games (4-1-1). They moved into first place in the Metropolitan Division and the NHL; they’re tied with Washington with 48 points but hold the edge with more wins in regulation.
The latest win followed two victories against two-time defending champion Tampa Bay — including a 4-0 shutout on Sunday.
“The last two nights have been just a really good team effort, top to bottom,” Strome said. “D, forwards, goalies. It’s been nice to see . ... We’ve been playing really good hockey. The rink’s buzzing, guys are excited and happy, it’s a good feeling.”
Alexandar Georgiev, playing for the first time in 2 ½ weeks, stopped 33 shots to get his first win since Dec. 10 against Buffalo. He improved to 6-3-2 with a 2.72 goals-against average this season.
“Things are going well for us defensively,” Georgiev said. “Guys are doing a really good job. Helped me a lot not to let them have too many secondary scoring chances, no rebounds.”
Ryan McLeod scored for Edmonton, which fell to 2-8-2 over its last 12 games since starting the season 16-5-0. Mikko Koskinen stopped 24 shots.
“I thought we did a lot of things well tonight,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. “Our goaltender wasn’t very good, and we didn’t find enough pucks at the net to get us back in the game . ... We haven’t played as well as we’d like to as a group.”