Rookie Gabe Perreault scored twice in the third period to deliver his first career hat trick as the New York Rangers shut down the visiting Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Jaroslav Chmelar also scored a goal, Adam Fox had two assists and Jonathan Quick narrowly missed a shutout, making 31 saves for the Rangers (32-36-9, 73 points).
The Rangers have been eliminated from playoff contention, and are the worst team in the Eastern Conference, but have won four of their last five games. New York also improved to 20-1-1 on the season when leading after the first period.
David Perron scored a goal and John Gibson made 17 saves for the Red Wings (40-28-8, 88 points), who are in a tight race with the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Detroit relied heavily on special teams play in its 4-2 win against Philadelphia on Thursday, but went 0-4 on the power play and 1-2 on the penalty kill on Saturday.
Chmelar put New York on the board 1-0 at 13:19 of the first period when he redirected Vladislav Gavrikov’s shot from the high slot for a tip-in goal.
Perreault made it 2-0 at 15:59 of the second period. Mike Zibanejad set up Perrault with a cross-ice pass, and the rookie winger scored on a wrist shot.
Perreault’s second goal made it 3-0 on a power play at 7:13 of the third period. Fox carried the puck into the Red Wings’ zone and passed it to Johnny Brodzinski, who set up Perreault’s wrist shot with a cross-ice pass that pulled Gibson out of position.
The 20-year-old finished off his three-goal game by scoring into an empty net with 1:44 remaining to make the score 4-0.
Perron robbed Quick of his 66th career shutout when he scored on a wrist shot with 33 seconds left in regulation for the final margin.
