Ryan Strome loves playing in New York, Pekka Rinne finally won in Pittsburgh and Vladimir Tarasenko hit the 30-goal mark once again.
Here are three things we learned in the NHL Friday.
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Strome and the Rangers are a match made in Heaven
Often times, a change in scenery can go a long way for a player in a prolonged dry spell. Just ask Ryan Strome.
The 25-year-old was in quite a rut prior to being dealt by the Edmonton Oilers to the New York Rangers in mid-November, having tallied just one goal and one assist in 18 games.
Well, ever since arriving in the Big Apple, Strome has been an entirely different player, registering 29 points in 57 games with his new club.
After finding the back of the net for a 16th time as a member of the Rangers Friday, Strome now has the most goals among any player that was acquired by a new team during the 2018-19 campaign.
Strome’s marker also brought his combined goal total this season to 17, which ties the forward’s previous career-high mark set during the 2014-15 season.
With five games left on the Rangers’ schedule, Strome setting a new season-best goal total is very much a possibility.
Rinne captures elusive first win in Pittsburgh
Pekka Rinne has been one of hockey’s most dominant goaltenders for awhile now, but even his resume has a few cracks in it.
The 36-year-old’s performance during the 2017 Stanley Cup Final against the eventual-champion Pittsburgh Penguins comes to mind in particular, as Rinne struggled mightily in Games 1, 2 and 5 (all losses).
Given his documented struggles against the Penguins, Rinne actually hadn’t captured a win — in either the regular or post-season — in Pittsburgh, but that all changed following his performance Friday night.
Rinne turned aside 42 of 43 Penguins’ shots on net, carrying the Preds to a 3-1 victory, while simultaneously getting the monkey off his back in the process.
The Blues are quite a resilient bunch
If you would have told me back in December that the St. Louis Blues would be in position to secure a playoff berth by the end of March, I would have shaken my head in disbelief.
St. Louis was in disarray both on the ice — the Blues had a 10-14 record following a 6-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 9 — and in the locker room, with tempers boiling over to the point where teammates fought with one another during practice.
Since that lopsided defeat and subsequent incident, though, the Blues have completely turned their season around, playing to a 31-14 record as one of the league’s hottest teams.
Vladimir Tarasenko has been a big part of the club’s turnaround, leading St. Louis in goals scored for a fifth consecutive season.
And on Friday Tarasenko added another goal to his team-best total in 2018-19, putting home his 30th of the year to help give the Blues an early lead.
Tarasenko’s first-period goal also made him only the fourth player in Blues’ franchise history to score 30 or more goals in five straight seasons, joining Garry Unger, Brett Hull and Brian Sutter.
Even though St. Louis failed to earn a point against New York, the club still clinched a playoff spot following Colorado’s shootout win over Arizona.
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