Postgame takeaways: Artemi Panarin hits milestones as Rangers down NHL-best Bruins

When in doubt, rely on Artemi Panarin.

That motto worked out well for the Rangers on Thursday in Boston, where they took down the NHL-best Bruins for the third time in three tries, the latest by a score of 5-2.

Panarin's four-point night, which included his third hat trick of the season, established new career highs with 41 goals and 98 total points.

In hitting those milestones, the 32-year-old forward placed himself in elite company, becoming the first Blueshirt to score 40 or more goals while registering 50 or more assists since Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06.

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Panarin ensured New York would maintain a narrow two-point lead for first place in the Metro Division over the hard-charging Carolina Hurricanes, who beat the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday for their fifth win in a row.

The win also left the Rangers (46-20-4) one point back of the Bruins (41-15-15) for the No. 1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand. (Remind me again how it makes sense for a team with five more wins and six fewer losses to be behind in the standings?)

The Presidents' Trophy, which signifies the league's best record, is well within their grasp, but head coach Peter Laviolette insisted that isn't their focus.

"We don't talk about being first overall," he said following Wednesday's practice at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown. "We're going into the game (Thursday) to try and beat a really good hockey team, and try and collect those two points. That's the objective. I suppose if we were to do that consistently through the remaining games, there's a chance that might happen. But that's not what we talk about."

Artemi Panarin hits new milestones

Goal No. 39 came at the 7:58 mark of the second period, the result of a broken play and Panarin's opportunistic instincts.

Braden Schneider, who played another impressive all-around game, carried the puck into the offensive zone and attempted to find him in the high slot. But when a couple Boston defenders deflected the pass, No. 10 stuck with it and flicked a quick wrister through goalie Jeremy Swayman's legs.

That tied the score at 1-1, with goal No. 40 putting the Rangers ahead with 35 seconds remaining in the period. A bit of good luck was involved on that play, as Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk dove onto the ice to cut off Panarin's pass and inadvertently redirected the puck into his own net.

Those lucky bounces are the byproduct of a star player who's driven the Blueshirts' offense all season. Panarin − who completed the hat trick with an empty-netter in the final minute of play − has been much more aggressive getting into high-danger areas and letting it rip, as evidenced by a career-high 248 shots and counting, all without sacrificing the passing creativity that made him one of the NHL's most dynamic facilitators.

He's been consistent with that approach and increasingly hot of late, with 30 points in his last 17 games.

The only thing left to do is carry this high level of play into the postseason.

Ice-time shifts

Laviolette, who was coaching in his 1,500th career game, leaned heavily on his leading scorer as the game wore on, loading Panarin up with extra shifts in the second and third periods. The same goes for his linemate, Vincent Trocheck, who led all forwards with 23:00 time on ice.

Panarin played a total of 21:25, with some of that ice time coming at veteran Chris Kreider's expense. He was limited to only four even-strength shifts in the second period and finished with lower-than-usual 14:46 TOI (he averages 18:55), with Laviolette preferring to double down on Panarin as often as he feasibly could. But No. 20 would respond with a motivated third period.

Just 40 seconds after Bruins forward Justin Brazeau scored to tie the score at 2-2, Kreider crashed the net to draw the Boston defense and open a shooting lane for Adam Fox. The Rangers' defenseman took advantage, roofing a well-placed wrister to put New York on top for good, 3-2, with 14:03 to play.

Kreider would later assist on Mika Zibanejad's empty-netter and lock down the win with a couple key defensive plays, capping his best period in at least a few games.

Notable night for Schneider, Quick, others

It wasn't just Kreider who stepped up in the latter portion of the game.

The Rangers came out of the first period trailing 1-0, the result of a DeBrusk goal just after time expired on a Bruins' power play, but dominated the league's No. 1 team from that point forward.

They limited Boston to 12 combined shots in the final 40 minutes − six in each period − and only two high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. It continued a run of mostly strong defensive efforts while winning six of eight since the Mar. 8 trade deadline, with the only exceptions coming in last Thursday's 6-3 loss in Tampa and Saturday's run-and-gun 7-4 win in Pittsburgh.

The Kreider-Zibanejad-Jack Roslovic line was especially stout, with that trio allowing zero shots and zero scoring chances. They logged many of their minutes against Bruins' top scorer, David Pastrnak, who was held without a point and finished with a negative-three rating.

Give a heap of that credit to the Rangers' D corps, as well. They've now played eight games without captain Jacob Trouba and two without Ryan Lindgren, both of whom are out with lower-body injuries, and have largely held up well.

Schneider was a standout Thursday, logging a season-high 21:17 time on ice with an assist, three blocked shots and a game-high eight hits. The 22-year-old recently spoke about wanting to bring more physicality, calling it "part of my game I think I need to be more consistent with." But it's all aspects of his game − defensive-zone coverage, penalty killing, puck decisions and jumping up in the rush − that have elevated since his promotion into Trouba's usual spot next to K'Andre Miller.

Fox, who's riding a six-game point streak, has also taken off lately, as has Zac Jones.

And while it only required 24 saves for Jonathan Quick to earn the victory, there were a few key stops that kept the score from turning against the Rangers in the first period. The result was the 38-year-old's 391st career win, moving him into a tie with Ryan Miller for most in NHL history by an American-born goalie.

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: Artemi Panarin leads Rangers in win over Bruins