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Gabe Perreault woke up feeling hopeful that it would mark a new beginning for him. However, his day ended up being overshadowed by the routine excellence of Artemi Panarin. Panarin, despite his imperfections, stands as the most significant high-profile signing the Rangers have ever made.
For while this was the night on which the 19-year-old Perreault was awarded a top-six leading role on Broadway while making his NHL debut, this also represented yet another match in which the 33-year-old winger dominated for shifts at a time, getting one goal and a pair of assists that included the setup on Vincent Trocheck’s overtime-winner at 0:24 to elevate the Blueshirts over the Wild 5-4.
Much of it was a mess. There were egregious giveaways — a significant one by K’Andre Miller, a dumbfounding one by Trocheck — and there was the chronic incompetence from the power-play unit, there were two one-goal leads frittered away, there was a shorthanded goal yielded, but on this night and in this Game 75, the Blueshirts persevered.
They played with heart.