Lafreniere scores hat trick for Rangers in shutout of Flames

Noah Laba won a race for the puck to the end wall and muscled Zayne Parekh out of the way so the puck could come off the end boards clean to Tye Kartye. He slid it across the slot to Sheary, who was at the far post and had an open net.

“All three of them, they’re just a dog on a bone on the puck,” Sullivan said. “You look at that play they make off a stretch pass, ‘Labs’ wins a foot race and a puck battle, and it turns into Conor Sheary’s goal.”

Lafreniere made it 3-0 at 16:31. Fox rimmed the puck behind the net to Zibanejad. He touched a backhanded pass to Perreault, who one-touched it across to Lafreniere. He was open at the far post to tuck it past Wolf as he tried to sprawl across.

“I feel like that second period, just a couple breakdowns and a few too many good looks for them,” Flames forward Morgan Frost said.

Quick preserved the shutout with a sprawling glove save on Matt Coronato at 13:23 of the third period.

“It was unbelievable,” Zibanejad said. “The way he played today and get to really I guess finish it off with that save to get the shutout and get his milestone as well with the shutout, that’s cool. That’s a guy that has meant so much the whole time he’s been here. You can see why he’s been so successful.”

Lafreniere completed his hat trick and made it 4-0 with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Perreault at 17:42.

“The way he’s been and even Gabe, I feel like, I don’t think the mistakes get to them when you have that confidence,” Zibanejad said. “The last goal is a perfect example. One shift before it’s a turnover and almost leads to a goal and obviously you don’t want that to happen, but for them to keep playing I think that’s a good sign. They’ve been awesome and happy for ‘Laf’ to get that hat trick too.”

NOTES: Quick (40 years, 48 days) became the oldest goalie to record a shutout with the Rangers, surpassing Terry Sawchuk, who was 40 years and 35 days old when he had a shutout on Feb. 1, 1970. … Zibanejad is the 14th Swedish player in NHL history to reach 800 career points and the third active after Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson (913) and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (810). … Fox became the fourth defenseman to reach 400 points with the Rangers behind Brian Leetch (981), Ron Greschner (610), and James Patrick (467). … Zibanejad has three multipoint games in his past four (eight points; three goals, five assists). … Calgary’s Ryan Strome played his 900th NHL game.