The last time Adam Fox was in a shootout, he believes, was during his junior hockey days with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
So when Fox finessed a nifty move before roofing the puck with his backhand on Kings star goalie Jonathan Quick to secure a 3-2 Rangers victory in the skills competition on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, the reigning Norris Trophy winner almost seemed surprised with himself.
“The [move] I did, I’m comfortable doing that,” he said after the win, which improved the Rangers to 28-11-4. “I didn’t want to over-complicate anything, so I just made a little fake there and you know, just glad it worked out.”
The shootout went six rounds, with head coach Gerard Gallant going with Chris Kreider to start. He then turned to Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome and Alexis Lafreniere before throwing Fox out there. Panarin and Lafreniere scored, while Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin made the save on Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev to tee Fox up for the win.
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Fox then twisted Quick, a two-time Stanley Cup winner, like a pretzel for the Rangers’ third shootout victory of the season.
“I think he should be one of our top shooters,” Gallant said of the 23-year-old defenseman, who earned his NHL-leading 39th assist of the season on Chris Kreider’s power-play goal that just beat the first-period buzzer. “He doesn’t love to do it a lot. But I think after tonight’s goal he’s going to get a lot of confidence from it.
“He’s got skill, he’s got talent and he made an incredible move. I talked to him earlier in the season about going, he said, ‘No, I don’t feel comfortable going.’ But I think that’s going to change now.”
The Kings scored twice in the second period, on goals from Blake Lizotte and Alex Iafallo, to carry a 2-1 lead into the final frame. And just when it seemed as though nothing was getting through Quick, after they failed to capitalize on a power-play opportunity at the six-minute mark in the third, the Rangers’ most effective line of the night came through.
Working the puck around the Kings zone, Ryan Strome fed Panarin, whose shot was tipped in by Barclay Goodrow at 14:15 to even the score at 2-2.
“Talking about three guys who have been huge for us,” Fox said. “They’ve built a little chemistry and they were cycling the puck well. This team is good at preventing you from getting to the net a little bit and Goodie plays that kind of game and gets around the net. It’s not the first time he’s scored a big goal for us around the net.”
It was yet another sleepy first period for the Rangers, who mustered just three shots on goal compared to the Kings’ 11 and struggled to generate anything offensively at five-on-five. Los Angeles simply outplayed the Rangers at even strength, forcing the Rangers into extra passes and keeping them out of the dangerous areas of the ice.
In the first period alone, the Rangers had zero even-strength scoring chances, while the Kings had eight, per Natural Stat Trick.
And with a goalie like Quick in net, the scoring chances were scarce to begin with. Though the Kings likely knew not to count their opponents out, especially with the way the Rangers have been able to claw their way back into games lately.
“We have confidence in each other, know what team we are, know what team we can be and the ultimate goal for us,” Fox said. “I think we’re just going to come in and keep winning games. Eventually, people will start not questioning every time we beat a team or win a game.”
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