Already without their Norris Trophy-winning defenseman and second-line center, the Rangers were forced to turn to their third-string goalie Thursday night in wake of an avalanche of injuries that most recently took out their star-studded goaltending tandem.
But they still have Artemi Panarin, who has shot out of a cannon to start the season with a 13-game point streak.
Alexis Lafreniere is still building upon his most impactful collection of games in his short career.
And Vincent Trocheck still can play the second-line center role he originally signed for.
Eight total points from the aforementioned trio allowed the Blueshirts to grind out a 4-1 win over the Wild at the Garden in their second meeting with Minnesota in six days.
The victory extended the Rangers’ point streak to nine games, which also ballooned their Metropolitan Division lead to five points on the Hurricanes.
This all while operating without some of the most important members of their team.
“Louis [Domingue] was really good today, especially in the second period,” said Lafreniere, who posted the first three-point performance of his career and notched his 100th career point in the process. “A couple of big saves, a couple of big saves in the last couple of minutes there. We’re down a couple key guys, but keep playing hard and keep getting wins.”
Domingue made his Rangers debut in the wake of both Igor Shesterkin (minor soreness) and Jonathan Quick (upper-body injury) being unavailable. The Garden crowd was behind him from the start. Fans bellowed ‘LOOOOUUUU’ after every big save, and were fully chanting his name by the final frame.
Finishing with 26 stops, Domingue did what he needed to do to give the Rangers a chance to win.
“It’s amazing and it was fun to have them on my side for once,” Domingue told The Post after his first NHL regulation win since Jan 15, 2022. “It was hard enough when I played in the playoffs here. They were booing me, not ‘Louing’ me.”
After Trocheck scored his third goal in the past two games for a 1-0 lead just under four minutes into the game, the Rangers have now notched the first goal in seven straight contests and 10 of their 13 games.
The second period, however, belonged to the Wild.
Not only did they tie it up on a goal from Brandon Duhaime, but Minnesota outshot the Rangers, 15-3, to completely even the playing field going into the third period. No one was happy with the way the middle frame unfolded, coach Peter Laviolette said, but the Rangers responded with a three-goal third period.
Aside from Blake Wheeler scoring his first goal as a Ranger to make it a 3-1 game, it was the second line of Panarin, Trocheck and Lafreniere that finished the job for their team.
After Panarin fed Lafreniere to capitalize on a three-on-one rush, the Russian wing scored an empty-net goal to bring his point total to 22, which is the third most in the NHL.
Panarin and Lafreniere have made it work with both Filip Chytil, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, and Trocheck. Though Trocheck’s seamless transition to the second line has kept this lineup intact.
“He fills so many valuable positions on our team,” Laviolette said of Trocheck, who has racked up six points (three goals, three assists) since assuming that spot. “I feel like he could play wing, he can jump over and play wing on a first line or he can play center on a checking line. He’s just a real versatile player. Power play. One of the first guys out the door on the penalty kill.
“Just his five-on-five minutes, he does a lot of things out there and he does it really well.”
