Lafreniere scores hat trick for Rangers in shutout of Flames

NEW YORK -- Alexis Lafreniere had a hat trick and Jonathan Quick made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season, lifting the New York Rangers to a 4-0 win against the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Lafreniere has five goals in the past four games and eight in nine after scoring six goals in his previous 37 games. It was his second career hat trick. His first came on March 30, 2024.

“Just playing with a little more confidence, holding onto pucks a little more and obviously Mika (Zibanejad) and Gabe (Perreault) have been making some really nice plays,” Lafreniere said. “I wanted to have a strong finish after the break. Just trying to work on my game and hopefully we can keep going.”

Quick ended a personal four-game losing streak. It was his 65th career shutout, moving him past former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist into 17th place all time, one behind Patrick Roy.

“You know, any time you’re mentioned with Hank’s name with anything it’s special,” Quick said. “I know what he means to this city, this organization, and what he’s done for goaltenders everywhere, a lot of young guys looking up to him. So just being in the same conversation with him with anything, any stat, or anything like that, it’s humbling.”

Zibanejad had two assists, including his 800th NHL point. Adam Fox had an assist for his 400th NHL point. Perreault had two assists and Conor Sheary also scored.

The Rangers (26-30-8) have won consecutive home games for the first time this season, improving to 4-1-1 in their past six games.

“I’m happy for the guys,” Sullivan said. “Obviously, we’ve had our ups and downs throughout the course of the year. I think we’re competing hard. I think they’re playing for one another. They’re executing for the most part. It’s not perfect, but I think these guys are just competing extremely hard so I’m happy for them.”

The Flames (25-32-7) have lost six of their past seven. Dustin Wolf made 25 saves.

“You take too many penalties, you’re not going to win games. If you turn the puck over you’re not going to win games. If you give up odd-man rushes you’re not going to win games,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought after the first period too much of that crept into our game. They scored the power-play goal toward the end of the first period and then I don’t think we got much energy from that point.

“Our goaltender was good tonight, I thought he played really well, but the goals that we gave up, the backdoor tap-ins, are things we need to fix.”

Lafreniere gave New York a 1-0 lead with a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 17:27 of the first period. He cut across the slot and deflected Zibanejad’s one-timer pass from the point past Wolf.

Sheary extended the lead to 2-0 at 10:28 of the second period.

Noah Laba won a race for the puck to the end wall and muscled Zayne Parekh out of the way so the puck could come off the end boards clean to Tye Kartye. He slid it across the slot to Sheary, who was at the far post and had an open net.

“All three of them, they’re just a dog on a bone on the puck,” Sullivan said. “You look at that play they make off a stretch pass, ‘Labs’ wins a foot race and a puck battle, and it turns into Conor Sheary’s goal.”

Lafreniere made it 3-0 at 16:31. Fox rimmed the puck behind the net to Zibanejad. He touched a backhanded pass to Perreault, who one-touched it across to Lafreniere. He was open at the far post to tuck it past Wolf as he tried to sprawl across.

“I feel like that second period, just a couple breakdowns and a few too many good looks for them,” Flames forward Morgan Frost said.

Quick preserved the shutout with a sprawling glove save on Matt Coronato at 13:23 of the third period.

“It was unbelievable,” Zibanejad said. “The way he played today and get to really I guess finish it off with that save to get the shutout and get his milestone as well with the shutout, that’s cool. That’s a guy that has meant so much the whole time he’s been here. You can see why he’s been so successful.”

Lafreniere completed his hat trick and made it 4-0 with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Perreault at 17:42.

“The way he’s been and even Gabe, I feel like, I don’t think the mistakes get to them when you have that confidence,” Zibanejad said. “The last goal is a perfect example. One shift before it’s a turnover and almost leads to a goal and obviously you don’t want that to happen, but for them to keep playing I think that’s a good sign. They’ve been awesome and happy for ‘Laf’ to get that hat trick too.”

NOTES: Quick (40 years, 48 days) became the oldest goalie to record a shutout with the Rangers, surpassing Terry Sawchuk, who was 40 years and 35 days old when he had a shutout on Feb. 1, 1970. … Zibanejad is the 14th Swedish player in NHL history to reach 800 career points and the third active after Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson (913) and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (810). … Fox became the fourth defenseman to reach 400 points with the Rangers behind Brian Leetch (981), Ron Greschner (610), and James Patrick (467). … Zibanejad has three multipoint games in his past four (eight points; three goals, five assists). … Calgary’s Ryan Strome played his 900th NHL game.