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Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers
What a time this is to be a New York Rangers fan.
New York flew to Arizona to play the Coyotes on the road on Saturday, March 30, and all the Rangers were making history in a plethora of ways from scoring goals to preventing them, including players notching milestones across the full length of the rink, from their goalie to the most advanced forward.
One of the goalscorers on Saturday was veteran left-winger Chris Kreider, who added a 300th career goal to his NHL resume having spent 12 seasons in New York.
With the milestone set in stone and already written in golden letters in the Rangers’ history books, Arthur Staple of The Athletic conducted interviews with 10 players “who have assisted on the most Kreider goals” for their “favorite stories of No. 20, on and off the ice.”
With “off” being the keyword here, fellow Rangers winger Artemi Panarin revealed his particular nickname for Kreider to Staple.
“I usually call him Horse,” Panari told Staple. “Because I don’t have enough English, I think ‘horse’ is like, many horses. So I just call him Hor…
“He’s not happy with that.”
Not only did Chris “Horse” Kreider become part of New York Rangers lore by becoming the third player in franchise history to score 300-plus goals (per Stathead), but he was joined by many other players reaching equally, or even more important, accolades.
Goaltender Jonathan Quick easily took the proverbial “milestone cake” home by becoming the winningest American-born goalie in NHL history getting his 392nd win after saving 27 shots to help New York beat Arizona 8-5 on hostile territory.
Quick passed Ryan Miller after tying the retired goalie’s record with a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins on March 21. Through March, Quick has appeared 25 times on the Rangers’ goal posting a 17-5-2 record, a .913 save percentage, and a 2.54 goals-against average.
The veteran netminder, who signed a one-year deal with the Rangers in July 2023, is currently competing at age 38 and for the 17th season in the NHL. Throughout his career, spanning 778 games to date, Quick has a 392-282-86 record with a .911 SV% and a 2.47 GAA.
Quick is also a two-time Stanley Cup winner, something he accomplished with the franchise that originally drafted him, the Los Angeles Kings, in the 2012 and 2014 playoffs.
Alexis Lafreniere and Adam Fox Joined the Historic Rangers Party
The record-crunching didn’t stop with Quick and Kreider, mind you.
The Rangers won their 50th game of the season to stay atop the NHL standings boasting the best record across the league and a .703 points percentage. For context, no other team has won more than 47 games this season or has a PTS% above .687.
Defenseman Adam Fox got two assists and reached 300 points in his career, which spans just 349 games. According to the New York Rangers Public Relations Department, Fox is “one of 13 defensemen in NHL history to reach the feat in fewer than 350 games.”
Former 2020 No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere enjoyed his first 5-point game in the NHL by scoring 3 goals (which also marked his first hat trick) and adding 2 assists.
“What an amazing career for [Quick],” head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters in his postgame press conference on March 30. “Lafreniere continues to play really well, ‘Foxy’ had a milestone, Chris Kreider (reached a) milestone.
“You know, big performance to get a big win.”
The Rangers (50-20-4, 104 points in 74 games) still have eight contests left in their schedule. If they remain at the top of the NHL standings when the season is over, the Rangers will win the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time since they last did in 2015.
Antonio Losada covers the NHL for Heavy.com. A veteran sports writer based in Spain, Antonio has covered the NBA, NFL and soccer for over 10 years, with bylines at SB Nation, FanSided, Yahoo Sports, FanGraphs, RotoBaller and more. He has also been nominated for multiple FSWA awards, including Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and DFS Writer of the Year. More about Antonio Losada
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