Alexis Lafreniere's two goals lead Rangers past Red Wings

Alexis Lafreniere didn’t look tired anymore.

Days after the first healthy scratch of his young career — a result, Gerard Gallant said, of his looking fatigued — the winger was back on the ice with renewed vigor. He scored two goals in the third period, including a nifty move between his legs to deke Dylan Larkin and send the crowd at Madison Square Garden to its feet, as the Rangers beat the Red Wings, 4-0, to briefly move into a tie for first place with the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. The Hurricanes played in Colorado late Saturday night.

“He looked like he was refreshed,” a smiling Gallant quipped. “Sometimes it works out perfectly.”

Lafreniere, who started off on the fourth line but moved around after Kaapo Kakko suffered a lower-body injury in the first period, broke an eight-game point drought.

“I definitely talked to him about it,” Gallant said of Wednesday’s healthy scratch. “It was all about getting him refreshed. I thought the kid played 72 games, a young kid. Like we talked about before today, [the scratch] wasn’t because of poor play. He came back today and he had a good jump and he gets a goal and he gets another beautiful goal. It was pretty exciting.”

Kakko, who missed 31 games with a suspected broken left wrist, was playing in only his fourth game back before getting tangled up with Tyler Bertuzzi and falling awkwardly with about five minutes left in the first period. Kappo, playing on a third line with Barclay Goodrow and Filip Chytil, exited and did not return. Gallant did not believe the injury to be serious.

Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, putting him at 77 points for the season, a career high. Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves for his fifth shutout of the season and seventh of his career.

Artemi Panarin, who assisted on Zibanejad’s first-period goal, earned his 90th point of the season and became the sixth Ranger to have multiple 90-point seasons. His career high is 95.

The Rangers outshot the Red Wings 37-20, won 60% of the faceoffs and spent ample time in the Red Wings’ zone.

“We talked about playing our game, focus on what we can do,” Zibanejad said. “We did that from the start . . . We spent a lot of time in their zone, did a lot of good things, and that’s what we want.”

Not that the Red Wings didn’t help a little.

In the first period, Thomas Greiss and Sam Gagner got called for delay of game within 31 seconds of each other to give the Rangers a five-on-three, and Zibanejad teed off on Panarin’s feed for a one-timer that sneaked under Greiss’ blocker to give them a 1-0 lead with 6:16 left. They made it 2-0 at 3:46 of the second period as Zibanejad swung it over to Frank Vatrano, whose snap shot from the slot was good for his 100th career goal and 17th of the season.

Since joining the Rangers in a trade with the Panthers days before the deadline, Vatrano has amassed seven goals and 11 points in 16 games.

Then it was Lafreniere’s time: He scored at 4:37 of the third and again at 14:17. That last one was the deke shot that sent the Garden buzzing.

“It was fun,” Lafreniere said. “I felt pretty good. I think I played with a little more confidence, so that’s what I have to do more often and that’s what I’ll try to do every night.”

Notes & quotes: Patrik Nemeth got the start with Braden Schneider on the third defensive pairing and picked up the primary assist on Lafreniere’s second goal. Gallant has been rotating Schneider, Nemeth and Justin Braun.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.