Postgame takeaways: Alexis Lafrenière's heroics lead Rangers to shootout win

NEW YORK - There's some exciting stuff happening at Madison Square Garden these days.

That especially applies to Alexis Lafrenière.

The Rangers' 22-year-old winger continued his rousing start to the season by scoring twice in Sunday's 4-3 shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, including the tying tally with just 11 seconds remaining in regulation.

The MSG faithful launched into hysterics, with the press box shaking as they celebrated the dramatic goal.

"That was cool," Lafrenière said with a big smile. "The crowd was really loud tonight. Just to tie it that way, it was fun."

It was almost as loud when Lafrenière netted New York's only successful shootout attempt, clinching the Rangers' 11th win in their first 14 games as they head into a quirky five-day break in the schedule.

"He seems to be in a good spot right now," head coach Peter Laviolette said, noting that he bumped No. 13 up "a few slots" from his normal shootout position because of the way he's been playing.

Lafrenière has now collected seven points during his current four-game point streak and is up to seven goals for the season.

He's silenced his preseason critics, but continues to take the high road and defer credit when asked about his hot start.

"I’m playing with really good linemates," he said. "It’s still really early in the season. We’ve got a lot of games to play, so I’m just trying to stay consistent and keep playing well."

His coach agrees that his line, which also features Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck − both of whom have been among the Rangers' top players of late − is playing a big role in Lafrenière's success. But he also believes it's propelling the former No. 1 overall pick to new heights.

"Any time you can have an impact in a game, you can gain confidence from that," Laviolette said. "It's not just him, too. I thought Vinny in the middle was unbelievable. Obviously, Panarin is playing terrific with his game right now. And when they're on the ice, good things are happening all the time. Sometimes that's easier to feed into when you're in the offensive zone and you're generating chances. You start to feel it a little bit, and with that, you gain a little bit of confidence."

Top line gets on the board

While the Rangers (11-2-1) continued their winning ways, Sunday marked the end of their streak of scoring first.

It had happened in the previous seven games, but Justin Danforth's tip of Erik Gudbranson's wrist shot with 3:34 remaining in the first period put the Blue Jackets on top, 1-0.

The Rangers' response was swift, though, with Chris Kreider tying the score just 2:20 later.

It was keyed by a smooth passing sequence off the rush, with Blake Wheeler dishing to Erik Gustafsson as he charged down the middle of the ice before gliding a feed to Kreider for the one-timer.

That upped the 32-year-old veteran’s team-leading total to 10 goals through 14 games, but it was only his third tally in a five-on-five situation. The Rangers' top line of Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Wheeler, who replaced Kaapo Kakko in that right-wing spot three games ago, has done an admirable job of limiting goals against, but their offensive production has been lacking.

Mika Zibanejad: Center defends Kaapo Kakko, discusses process for top line

They finally got the result they've been looking for, thanks in no small part to Gustafsson.

The 31-year-old defenseman is looking like a bargain for the one-year, $825,000 contract he signed over the summer, particularly of late as he's taken on more minutes and responsibility with Adam Fox (lower-body injury) on long-term injured reserve. He's up to 10 points (three goals and seven assists) on the season while riding a four-game point streak.

A frantic second period

The Rangers took a brief 2-1 lead in the second period, with some help from the line that's been their most consistent source of offense.

Panarin, Trocheck and Lafrenière each recorded a point on the go-ahead goal at the 11:17 mark, with Lafrenière finishing a well-placed cross-ice pass from Trocheck.

"From a five-on-five standpoint, they're probably our most effective line," Laviolette said. "They're in the offensive zone and generating chances constantly. They've done a really good job of establishing that offensive-zone identity. With that, you start to see the confidence and you start to see the growth."

Panarin, who's been the leader of the bunch, tied Rangers’ legend Rod Gilbert (1972-73) for longest point streak in franchise history to start a new season at 14. He's up to a team-high 24 points (eight goals and 16 assists) in that span.

"Bread is unbelievable," Lafrenière said.

But the tide would quickly turn in Columbus' favor. The Jackets scored twice in a span of 19 seconds to jump ahead, 3-2.

The first came off a failed Rangers' clear attempt, with rookie Adam Fantilli capitalizing on a quick wrister. That was immediately followed by the go-ahead goal from Sean Kuraly, who dove at a rebound from Alexandre Texier's shot and beat defenseman Zac Jones to the puck for the finish.

The period ended with controversy, when Will Cuylle's shot got wedged in between Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins and the near post. It's hard to tell for sure if the puck crossed the goal line at that point, but it definitively did after Kakko came flying in to whack at the rebound.

An official review from the decision-makers in Toronto determined that happened after the play was dead, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.

Ryan Lindgren injured during third-period push

With the extended break on the horizon, the Rangers came out for the third period with a furious push.

"We knew we had a couple of days off coming, so we just tried to leave it out there, and I think we did," Lafrenière said. "We played a really solid third."

They outshot the Jackets, 17-3, in those 20 minutes, with the final attempt ending up in the back of the net. It was setup by a point shot from Panarin, with Kreider nabbing the rebound and flicking a backhanded feed to Lafrenière for the one-timer.

"Inside of a game that wasn’t going our way most of the night, we went out in the third period and really delivered heart to make sure that we tried to get points," Laviolette said. "They fought and competed really hard."

The Rangers played most of that final period without defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who exited after taking a hard hit (and dangerous elbow) from Kuraly along the boards and did not return.

Kuraly was assessed a two-minute minor for boarding, which Laviolette believed should have been a five-minute major.

"There was something going on through the course of the game with both of those guys," he said. "His elbow clearly took him in the head."

Laviolette deemed it an upper-body injury for Lindgren, raising concerns about a possible head injury.

He, among many others, will benefit from the upcoming rest. The Rangers emptied the tank in pursuit of these two points, led by a career-high 28:02 time on ice from Panarin. K'Andre Miller (27:29), Trocheck (26:28), Gustafsson (26:18), Lafrenière (24:13), Zibanejad (23:10) and Jacob Trouba (22:54) all eclipsed 22 minutes played.

"We're chasing the game in the third period, and then the power plays and then the overtime," Laviolette said. "We went with a short bench to try and get it done. Forwards are playing 24, 25, 28 minutes. That's a lot of minutes. They fought 'til the end."

The Blueshirts will be off until Saturday's highly anticipated meeting with the rival Devils in New Jersey.

Fox won't be eligible to return by then, but goalie Igor Shesterkin appears to be on track after missing the past four games with undisclosed soreness. It's a murkier situation for center Filip Chytil, who has also missed the past four games with an upper-body injury and has yet to return to the ice.

"Resiliency, that's a good word to sum it up," said Jonathan Quick, who finished with 26 saves and stopped all three attempts he faced in the shootout. "You kind of look at the ways we're winning. It's power play sometimes, sometimes it's PK, five-on-five, got some overtime wins. It takes everybody. That's what you need from your team. You’ve got guys chipping in when you need them, and it's fun right now. But we also have to understand we still got a lot of work to do and a long way to go."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Postgame takeaways: Lafrenière's heroics lead Rangers to shootout win