It’s official. The New York Rangers were the first team to clinch a spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs after their 6-5 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday night at the Garden.
It wasn’t easy, but the only thing that mattered is that the Blueshirts walked away with a crucial two points. The Flyers gave the Rangers a run for their money, as they started the game up 2-0 until Mika Zibanejad’s power play goal late in the second period. But besides the playoff berth, the two major storylines were the special nights for Head Coach Peter Laviolette and Artemi Panarin.
Peter Laviolette
Tuesday night was a big one for Peter Laviolette. The win marked the 800th of his fabled career. He became just the 7th coach ever to accomplish the feat and second active coach, joining the Panthers’ Paul Maurice. This also comes two games after Laviolette coached in Game number 1,500 against the Boston Bruins last week. This season, he has been very humble of himself, and would rather give a lot of the credit to his coaching staff and the players.
Laviolette summarized his thoughts by exclaiming:
“In all honesty, it’s a lot of good coaches that I’ve worked with over a lot of years. A lot of great staffs. So many good players, organizations. Michael Peca was the first to remind me he was there for the first one” (@SNYRangers on X).
Laviolette has gotten a lot of praise throughout the campaign and rightfully so. It is argued that some of the players would not be having the seasons that they are having if it wasn’t for his coaching tactics and drive that he has implemented into their system.
Artemi Panarin:
For the first time in his illustrious career, Artemi Panarin has reached the 100 point mark. More notably, he became only the 7th player in franchise history to reach the threshold. He joins a list of names with the likes of Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, and Brian Leetch. That is some elite company for the Bread Man, who notched his 100th point on Mika Zibanejad’s second period power play goal. He would also end up getting an assist on one of Alexis Lafreniere’s third period goals, and on Adam Fox’s eventual overtime winner. It was also Panarin’s 12th game with three or more points this season, tying him with Elias Pettersson of the Canucks for fourth in the league.
Artemi Panarin’s Rangers tenure has been nothing short of brilliant in his soon to be fifth season with the club.
Tuesdays game was one to remember for the Rangers Head Coach and superstar winger. Congratulations to Peter Laviolette and Artemi Panarin on their great seasons.
The Rangers were the first team to clinch a playoff spot, but the Blueshirts want more than that…
BS Reports 
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