Game Recap: Rangers 4, Wild 1

NEW YORK -- Alexis Lafrenière and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and two assists, and Louis Domingue made 25 saves to win his first start with the New York Rangers, 4-1 against the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Lafreniere’s three-point game was his first in the NHL.

Domingue hadn't played in the NHL since May 13, 2022, when he was in goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round. He was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League to start because Igor Shesterkin (minor soreness, day to day) and Jonathan Quick (upper body, day to day) were unavailable.

"It felt amazing, honestly," Domingue said. "To hear the support of the crowd like that was great. Like I said this morning it's nice to be on their side for once. My experience tonight was great, and the team played really well in the third to get a win."

Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist to extend his season-opening point streak to 13 games for the Rangers (10-2-1) who have points in nine straight (8-0-1). Blake Wheeler scored his first goal with New York.

Brandon Duhaime scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for the Wild (5-6-2), who had won two straight, including 5-4 in a shootout against the Rangers in Minnesota on Saturday.

"We've got to make sure we put in a consistent effort and good play like we did in the second [period]," Fleury said. "Make it consistent for three periods and the odds will be better."

New York has a plus-16 goal differential (32-16), a 39.3 percent power play (11-for-28) and 93.6 percent penalty kill (29-for-31) during its point streak.

"I do think that when you stay tight defensively and defend hard you've got a chance of winning hockey games; that's been good," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "The power play has been excellent and that's really helped inside of the streak. And to me the 5-on-5 is starting to connect a little bit and generate as well. It's never one thing."

Trocheck gave New York a 1-0 lead 3:56 into the first period, scoring off a pass from Lafreniere.

The Rangers outshot the Wild 14-2 in the first period.

"It was more their fast start than our slow start," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "Yeah, we gave up shots at the net, but there wasn't a lot of Grade-A scoring chances that we gave up. We weathered the storm."

Duhaime tied it 1-1 at 12:33 of the second period with a high-slot deflection of Brock Faber's shot from inside the right point.

The Wild outshot the Rangers 15-3 in the second.

"We didn't like the second period," Wheeler said. "Obviously, Minnesota is a really good team, they have a lot of pride, so they probably didn't like their first period. But it's not up to the standard that we've set in here and that was the communication after the second, that we're a whole lot better than that.

“We wanted to go out and right off the bat in that third period get back to playing in their zone. 'Bread' (Panarin) and 'Laf' made a great play for a huge goal for us."

Lafreniere put New York ahead 2-1 at 1:41 of the third period by completing a 2-on-1 with Panarin. Panarin's patience forced Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin to defend him in the right circle, leaving Lafreniere open on the left side. Fleury was stuck at the right post and didn't get over in time to stop Lafreniere.

The rush started when Faber pinched down from the point into the right circle but missed the puck. Trocheck pushed it up to Panarin in the neutral zone and the Rangers had the 2-on-1.

"It was just stupid, plain and simple," Faber said of his pinch. "I looked at it on the bench and kind of hoped I saw something different, but I didn't. It was a complete lack of judgment that cost us."

Wheeler pushed it to 3-1 at 14:39 with a power-play goal, scoring off a rebound of Will Cuylle's shot after Lafreniere's initial shot from the right point.

Wheeler signed a one-year contract on July 1.

"It was a good moment to score a goal to extend the lead late in the third period," Wheeler said. "It was a perfect way to get one."

Panarin scored an empty-net goal at 18:39 for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: Fleury passed Patrick Roy for the third-most saves by a goalie in NHL history (25,808) since the stat was first tracked in 1955-56. Roy had 25,800. Martin Brodeur (28,928) and Roberto Luongo (28,409) are ahead of Fleury. … Zach Bogosian played 14:44 in his first game with the Wild, who acquired the defenseman in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. … Panarin's 13-game point streak ties the longest of his career, which he had during the 2019-20 season (Feb. 7-March 1). He is one game away from tying the Rangers record for longest point streak to start a season (Rod Gilbert, 14, 1972-73). …Lafreniere recorded his 100th NHL point (52 goals, 48 assists). … Domingue's last win in an NHL regular-season game came on Jan. 15, 2022. He won three games for the Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Rangers in 2022, the last on May 9. … Rangers defenseman Erik Gustafsson's assist on Trocheck's goal was his 200th NHL point (42 goals, 158 assists).