New York Rangers left winger Alexis Lafreniere of St-Eustache, Quebec recorded his first National Hockey League hat trick on Saturday. He accomplished the feat in an 8-5 Rangers win over the Arizona Coyotes at the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona.
Lafreniere opened the scoring at 14:15 of the first period from Artemi Panarin and Ryan Lindgren. He then put the Rangers up 3-1 from Vincent Trocheck and Panarin at 6:45 of the second period, and then closed out the scoring with 15 seconds left in the third period from Trocheck and Adam Fox.
It should be noted that Lafreniere also had two assists as he helped set up Lindgren at 1:59 of the second period and defenseman Zachary Jones at 7:16 of the third period. Lafreniere’s five points were also a career high.
Two Canadians scored for the Rangers. The other was Barclay Goodrow of Toronto, Ontario, who scored an unassisted, shorthanded, game-winning goal at 9:33 of the third period.
In 2023-24, Lafreniere has 25 goals and 27 assists for 52 points. He is a +5 with 30 penalty minutes, six power-play points, five game-winning goals, 197 shots on goal, 16 faceoff wins, 19 blocked shots, 71 hits, 43 takeaways, and 25 giveaways.
The Rangers currently lead the NHL with 104 points. They have one more point than the Dallas Stars.
