Vladimir Tarasenko scores first goal as a Ranger in win over Seattle
Vladimir Tarasenko of the Rangers celebrates his first-period goal against the Kraken at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Rangers, who have been missing a top-six right wing from their lineup all season, may have caught the NHL off-guard by pulling the trigger on Thursday’s deal to acquire sniper Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues three weeks before the trade deadline.
Less than three minutes into his Rangers debut Friday night against the Seattle Kraken at Madison Square Garden, Tarasenko made general manager Chris Drury look good for being so proactive.
Tarasenko got the sellout crowd buzzing when he drove the net to tap in a feed from longtime friend Artemi Panarin for his first goal as a Ranger. That sent the Blueshirts on the way to a 6-3 victory that completed a sweep of their four-game homestand.
The Rangers have won five of their last six (5-0-1) as they head out on a four-game trip to Carolina on Saturday and Western Canada next week.
Tarasenko, who waived his no-trade clause to allow the Blues to send him to New York, completed a whirlwind 24 hours in which he was traded for the first time in his 11-year NHL career.
“It’s been a lot of emotions, I’m not going to lie,’’ he said. “First day, my family came here from St. Louis . . . and it was amazing.’’
“Just from meeting him this morning, he’s really excited,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said. “And it’s a great way to start to his career here with the Rangers, scoring his second shift out there. He’s excited to play, he’s a good hockey player, and he’s going to help our team be a real good team.’’
The entire Rangers lineup seemed energized early in the game by the additions of Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola, who came with Tarasenko in the deal that sent a conditional first-round pick this summer, a conditional fourth-rounder in the summer of 2024, forward Sammy Blais and minor-league defenseman Hunter Skinner to St. Louis.
The crowd was excited, too, giving Tarasenko a rousing ovation when he was introduced in the starting lineup.
“The fans gave us a lot of energy,’’ Panarin said. “In the beginning when they introduced Vladdy, they started making noise, so that’s good. And after the goal, especially.’’
Panarin, who at the morning skate said he was “more happy than anyone’’ to have Tarasenko join the team, was flying in the first period.
So was Kaapo Kakko, the young Finnish forward who was happy to have his countryman, Mikkola, on the team. Kakko scored his first goal since Dec. 22, ending a drought of 16 games, and added an assist in one of his more dominant performances of the season.
After Tarasenko and Kakko (at 5:01 of the first period) put the Rangers up 2-0, goals by Vincent Trocheck and Jacob Trouba — playing on a revamped second power-play unit — gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead just over a minute into the second period.
But as they did Wednesday in their win over Vancouver, the Rangers (30-14-8) let up, and Seattle (29-18-5) tightened the score. The Kraken’s Oliver Bjorkstrand scored at 2:07 of the second period, 1:04 after Trouba’s goal, to make it 4-1. After Mika Zibanejad scored on a power play to make it 5-1 at 3:19 of the third period, the Kraken got two goals 22 seconds apart to make it 5-3.
The first came with Mikkola serving the second of his three penalties. Jared McCann beat Igor Shesterkin (26 saves) with a long, screened slap shot at 5:59. The second came when Brandon Tanev got behind Braden Schneider and scored his 10th goal of the season at 6:21.
Ryan Lindgren scored his first goal of the season into an empty net with 2:09 remaining.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
More Rangers
