Alexis Lafreniere scored the tiebreaking goal 1:41 into the third period and collected two assists as the New York Rangers beat the visiting Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Thursday to earn a point for a ninth straight game.

Lafreniere snapped the tie when the Rangers capitalized on a Minnesota miscue. Minnesota’s Marco Rossi made a pass from behind the New York net that Artemi Panarin intercepted.

Panarin sprung Vincent Trocheck on a two-on-one, and Lafreniere finished off the odd-man rush by getting the cross-ice feed and tucking a shot into the vacated left side of the net for a 2-1 lead.

Trocheck also had a goal and two assists as the Rangers improved to 8-0-1 in the past nine games. Panarin had an assist on Lafreniere’s goal and scored an empty-net goal, giving him at least one point in every game New York has played this season.

Panarin tied the longest single-season points streak of his career. He also moved within one of Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert for the longest streak in team history to open a season (1972-73).

Blake Wheeler added his first goal since signing with the Rangers when he scored on New York’s first power play in the third.

With Igor Shesterkin out for the third straight game due to lingering soreness and Jonathan Quick scratched because of an upper-body injury, the Rangers turned to Louis Domingue.

Domingue made 14 of his 26 saves in the second period and made several key saves in the third, including a point-blank stop on Vinni Lettieri shortly before Wheeler scored. It was Domingue’s first appearance since May 13, 2022, when he started for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series against the Rangers.

Brandon Duhaime scored for the Wild, who failed in a bid for their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Minnesota goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots.

Trocheck opened the scoring 3:56 into the game following an errant clearing attempt by Minnesota.

Dakota Mermis made a pass from behind the Minnesota net that New York defenseman Erik Gustafsson intercepted near the blue line by the Wild bench. Gustafsson dished to Lafreniere, and Trocheck buried the cross-ice pass with a shot from the left circle over Fleury.

The Wild took the first nine shots on goal of the second but did not score until Duhaime tipped a Brook Faber shot from the left point over Domingue with 7:27 remaining.

–Field Level Media