The Los Angeles Kings rolled into Madison Square Garden on Monday and absolutely dismantled the New York Rangers 6-3, handing the Rangers their *first* home loss in seven games this season. Talk about a statement win on the road, their third in four road games no less. This wasn’t just a win, it was a full-bench masterclass where the Kings just went off.
Kings Light Up The Scoreboard (And The Goalie)
This game was a total team effort, and you gotta love that. Six different Kings found the back of the net, and an incredible 12 different players racked up points. Eight of those points came from defensemen! Kings coach Peter Laviolette nailed it, saying, “I thought it was really good from start to finish. We played the game fast and made really good decisions. There were a lot of positives. To get the whole bench involved was really good.” And he ain’t wrong.
Taylor Ward kicked things off with a breakaway goal just 75 seconds into his first game of the season. Less than four minutes later, defenseman Brandt Clarke scored his second goal in three games. Both goals came on the Kings’ first two shots, hitting rookie-level efficiency. Things got spicy when Rangers captain J.T. Miller cut the lead at 13:01, but Kings captain Drew Doughty restored the two-goal cushion at 17:32 with a absolute blast from the point. Seriously, the Kings came out swinging and never let up.
The Rangers’ Goalie Nightmare and Panarin’s Revenge Tour
The early goals were bad news for New York’s 38-year-old goaltender James Reimer, who was making his Rangers debut. This was his first start since Igor Shesterkin went down with a lower-body injury on October 9, declared out for the season, meaning regular backup Dylan Garand finally got a night off. Well, Reimer had a nightmare. He let in three goals on just eight shots in the first period before getting yanked for Garand. Not exactly the debut you dream about, huh?
Then, former Ranger Artemi Panarin wasted no time greeting Garand, scoring his team-leading seventh goal at 1:30 of the second period on the power play. Panarin, who played seven seasons for the Rangers and once put up a career-high 49 goals and 120 points under Laviolette two seasons ago, definitely made his old team feel it. Mikey Anderson kept the Kings’ scoring spree going at 6:54 of the second, pushing the lead to a dominant 5-1. Adam Fox, playing his 500th NHL game for the Rangers, did manage to pull one back on the power play at 13:05 of the second, making it 5-2. And Ty Karyte (Rangers) made it 5-3 at 16:08 of the third, but Joel Edmundson sealed the deal with an empty-netter.
Darcy Kuemper was solid in net for the Kings, making 23 saves for his third win of the season. He’s been on a roll, also beating Washington and the Islanders earlier on this five-game road trip. This win also put Coach Laviolette in the history books, tying Ken Hitchcock for sixth place on the all-time coaching wins list with 849! That’s a legend right there. The Kings’ road trip wraps up on Tuesday in Chicago. You know they’ll be looking to keep this momentum rolling.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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