By Daniel Feuerstein | March 16th, 2026 | New York, NY
The New York Rangers came back from their two-game road trip with a big win over the Minnesota Wild. They took on the Los Angeles Kings and saw their former teammate Artemi Panarin, who now wears the Silver and Black. It would be another hard-fought game, but this time the Rangers didn’t have enough to continue their current winning streak as it was snapped at four. The game ended as the Kings swept the series and defeated the Rangers by a final score of four to one.
Artemi Panarin Honored
With 11:18 remaining during the first period, and a T.V. timeout was taken, the Rangers posted on their GardenVision a thank you Video to Artemi Panarin and allowed the Rangers fans to give him an emotional standing ovation for his seven seasons at Madison Square Garden. The clips showed him walking through the halls, holding his jersey, then his highlights, scoring all his goals for the Rangers. Once his video ended, he skated around the Garden Ice and thanked all the fans for their support.
Game Recap
After the Kings won the faceoff, Artemi Panarin redirects the puck toward the far point to Mikey Anderson, then he makes a crossice pass to Drew Doughty at the near point. All Doughty does is snap a shot that somehow gets through Igor Shesterkin, and it gives the Kings the lead at 13:29 of the first period. With a crowd in front os Shesterkin, he might have been screened on that shot from Doughty as he was closer toward the blue line of the offensive zone.
Then the Kings scored two goals within 28 seconds of each other. On a delayed penalty call, the Kings had the puck inside the Rangers’ zone and worked some magic. Quinton Byfield got the puck at the far boards and saw Alex Laferriere inside the slot. Made the pass and Laferriere swept the puck on the net, as Shesterkin made the save, but Anderson was right there at the doorstep near the far post and slammed home the rebound at 4:31 of the second period.
Then the Kings go to work on the power play. After winning the draw, Byfield has possession of the puck at the far post. Makes a quick pass to Anze Kopitar inside the slot. Shesterkin makes the save, but leaves the rebound for Laferriere, and he bats it over Shesterkin and flutters inside the net at 4:59 of the second period. A three-goal lead on the road as they try to make the playoffs, down by two points in the Western Conference Standings.
The Rangers finally got on the board as they went on the power play. Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad are passing the puck back and forth to each other at the top of the zone. This time, Zibanejad gave it to Fox for the final time. He ripped a long shot from just inside the blue line and inside the slot. Vincent Trocheck tipped the puck for a deflection and beat Darcy Kuemper to end the shutout attempt at 2:29 of the third period on the power play.
All night long, Kuemper was sensational in net, making strong pad saves and frustrating the Rangers all game long. The one chance in the third period came for Gabe Perreault as he had a clear sight of the net. Inside the far side faceoff circle, he ripped a great shot that struck the post, then the crossbar, and maybe off of Kuemper’s right shoulder and out. If that one went in, this could’ve been a one-goal game. But the Kings got an empty net goal from Trevor Moore, and that would be it at the Garden.
Anze Kopitar gets a goodbye
This is the final season of Los Angeles Kings Captain Anze Kopitar, as he will retire at the end of this season. After the final buzzer sounded, the Rangers skated in a line and wished Kopitar good luck with his soon-to-be end of the road. Some of the European players gave him a big hug, but one Ranger made sure he got several words with Kopitar, and that was Goaltender Jonathan Quick, as he was teammates with Kopitar on those two Stanley Cup championship teams they were a part of. Then Kopitar skated off the rink and waved goodbye to the Rangers crowd, who acknowledged his career.
Mike Sullivan’s Comments
“We give up a goal off a face-off, or a power-play or penalty-kill goal against. I think we could have had a little bit more pushback. I thought we had it in the third. But the second was obviously the part of the game where we could have done a better job in that regard. What did you like about the third? Well, I think we played with better intentions. We played with more energy. You know, we got on top of them a little bit. We held on to pucks. I still think we’ve got to be willing to create more off the shot, especially when you play teams that, when their coverage turns into man-on-man.
You know, nothing breaks that coverage down better than a shot on goal. And make them defend the scoring area. And I think we have opportunities to create more off the shot. It’ll encourage us to get inside a little bit more. I think. I think there are opportunities there, and we’ll certainly look to the film to show them those and see if we can learn from that experience. You know, we had some zone time. I didn’t think we had much to show for it overall throughout the game. Oh. You know, with the zone time that we had, I thought we had a fair amount, a significant amount in the first period.
I thought we had a significant amount in the third period. In the second period, not as much. But those two periods, for the type of zone time that we had, I feel like we didn’t have as much to show for it. And part of that is a willingness to put more pucks in play and then force them to have to defend the scoring area and allow us to compete on pucks in that area of the rink,” said Head Coach Mike Sullivan
ADAM FOX: Extended his point streak to five-straight games (1G-5A), the second-longest streak in the league among all blueliners. His 30 assists this season rank third on the Blueshirts.
VINCENT TROCHECK: Has scored a goal in back-to-back games and extended his point streak to three-straight games (2G-2A). He has recorded 11 points through his last nine games (2G-9A), the second-most points on New York in that span.
Discover more from Bad Dawg Sports – Global Sports Coverage & Analysis
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Discover more from Bad Dawg Media Group
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
