K’Andre Miller was dialed in on both sides of the puck in the Rangers’ 6-1 trouncing of the Flyers on Thursday night at the Garden.
In addition to posting his second multipoint effort of the season with a goal and assist, extending his point streak to a season-high three games, the 25-year-old defenseman also chipped in three blocks and one takeaway to help propel the Blueshirts to their 10th straight game with at least one point.
“It’s unfortunately been missing for a while,” Miller said when asked how his recent offensive contributions have helped his confidence. “Going in the right direction, so it’s been good.”
The addition of Will Borgen has done wonders for not only the Rangers lineup, but also for Miller individually.
Miller described it as a “tremendous” fit and the two have only gotten stronger as they’ve grown more familiar.
The Rangers effectively worked the puck around the offensive zone leading up to Miller’s goal, in which he got the puck in the high slot in the middle of the ice and wristed it home for the 3-1 lead at the 4:44 mark of the second period.
It was just his third goal on the season, and his first since Dec. 8.
“Your team starts to win, you start to feel confident,” head coach Peter Laviolette said when asked about Miller. “You start to contribute offensively. Not that you need to, but when players start to contribute offensively, they start to feel that a little bit better. Yes, it was good that he generated some offense, but I thought he was really good in the defensive zone tonight. I thought he was a horse out there.
“Like, he was heavy, and he used his skating, he broke pucks out with speed and then added to the rush through the neutral zone. I thought he played a real strong game for us.”
Goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 33 of the 34 shots he saw to pick up his 17th win of the season.
Going 6-0-1 in his last seven starts, Shesterkin has allowed two or fewer goals in five of the seven games.
Artemi Panarin reached the 50-point mark for his sixth consecutive season as a member of the Rangers.
The only players in franchise history to record as many consecutive 50-point campaigns are Rod Gilbert (10), Andy Bathgate (9), Jean Ratelle (8), Mika Zibanejad (6), Mark Messier (6) and Stevie Vickers (6).
Two Rangers prospects are up for the Hobey Baker Award, the most prestigious honor in college hockey.
The Blueshirts 23rd-overall pick in 2023, Gabriel Perreault, is a no-brainer candidate for the award after posting 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists) in 21 games with Boston College thus far.
Noah Laba, the Rangers’ 111th-overall pick in 2022, was also nominated after notching five goals and 12 assists in 17 games so far with Colorado College.
