NHL Rink Wrap: First shutout for Thompson, Panarin leads Rangers, 100 for McDavid

All season the New York Rangers have been relying on their goaltending — mainly Igor Shesterkin — to win them games. When Shesterkin has not played, it has been a bit of a struggle. That was the case on Wednesday night against the Detroit Red Wings when they needed to rely on their offense to get two points in the standings. It was a three-point night from Artemi Panarin that led the way. He scored his 18th goal of the season in the second period, and then assisted on Chris Kreider‘s 46th goal of the season to tie the game late in the third period before also assisting on Andrew Copp‘s game-winning goal in overtime to give them a little more cushion over the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second place spot in the Metropolitan Division.

Conor McDavid is the first player to 100 points this season.

Andrew Copp’s game-winning goal.

Shea Theodore jumps out of the penalty box to open the scoring for the Vegas Golden Knights.

First career shutout for Logan Thompson

The Vegas Golden Knights have almost no margin for error right now, and until Robin Lehner is back healthy they are going to have to rely on players like Logan Thompson in net to help get them to the playoffs. Thompson stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 3-0 win over the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday night for his first career shutout to help the Golden Knights improve their playoff chances.

Inconsistency with the NHL Department Of Player Safety

At this point it is picking at low-hanging fruit to point out the inconsistencies with the NHL’s Department Of Player Safety, but they also make it so easy sometimes. A $5,000 fine for Taylor Hall‘s sucker punch on Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Ilya Lybushkin seems extremely light, not only given the context of the fact it was a