K’Andre Miller set an astonishing franchise record Sunday night in New York.
He became the first defenseman in Rangers history to register four points in one period. Miller achieved that feat with two goals and two assists in the opening engagement against the Predators. He thus helped the “Blueshirts” to lead 6-0 (!) after 20 minutes of play at Madison Square Garden. See it in the video above.
Rangers eventually won 7-0.
Filip Chytil, Mika Zibanejad, Tyler Motte and Miller took turns beating goaltender Kevin Lankinen, who was taken out of the game after giving up four times on just five shots.
Juuse Saros was sent into the fray, but that didn’t stop the bleeding. The Finn was beaten on shots by Artemi Panarin, Miller and Chris Kreider
In front of the net of the winners, Jaroslav Halak repelled the 22 shots of the “Preds”. He got his first shutout in a New York uniform and the 53rd of his career.
A Jack Eichel hat trick
At T-Mobile Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights outscored the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2.
Jack Eichel took advantage of the visit to the Ohio club to score his second hat trick in 2022-2023 and fourth of his career. It was also the fourth time this season that he had hit the target more than once in a single game.
Phil Kessel, Pavel Dorofeyev, Zach Whitecloud and Paul Cotter listed the other ‘Golden Knights’ successes.
Defender Alex Pietrangelo was no slouch, providing four assists. It was the second time he had so many points in a National League game. He had achieved the feat in 2017-2018 against the Chicago Blackhawks, when he wore the colors of the St. Louis Blues.
The Blue Jackets’ response came from the sticks of Kirill Marchenko and Liam Foudy.
And bref
At Amalie Arena, forward Nikita Kucherov picked up his 100th point of the season, but the Tampa Bay Lightning went down 5-2 against the New Jersey Devils. The Russian became the third player to reach the plateau, after Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (134) and Leon Draisailt (104).
For the Devils, Jesper Bratt scored a hat trick and reached the 30-goal mark this season.
At the Enterprise Center, the St. Louis Blues blanked the Winnipeg Jets 3-0. Goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Joel Hofer signed the shutout together. The former made a save in less than three minutes of play, while the latter saved 33 pucks the rest of the game.
