Pregame Notes: Rangers at Lightning

MIKA MADNESS

Mika Zibanejad has points in nine-straight games (8G-8A), tied for the longest of his career, and points in 17 of his last 18 contests (12G-14A).

On Wednesday against Washington, Zibanejad played in his 800th career NHL game. His 281 goals were the fifth-most by a Swedish-born player through 800 games behind only Mats Sundin (340), Daniel Alfredsson (306), Markus Naslund (297) and Henrik Zetterberg (289).

PANARIN’S POINTS

Artemi Panarin has points in eight of his last nine games (4G-6A) and in 13 of his last 16 games (10G-11A).

He has notched a point in 28 of his 34 games this year, tied for the third most games with a point in the NHL this season (Nylander and MacKinnon lead with 29).

On Friday, Panarin reached the 20-goal mark for the eighth time in nine career seasons. Panarin reached the mark in his 34th game of the season, his second-fastest season to 20 goals behind 2019-20 (33 GP).

KREIDING TO MAKE HISTORY

Chris Kreider continues to change the Rangers record books as he surpassed Adam Graves for the 10th most points in team history (508) on Thursday. On Dec. 15 against Anaheim, Kreider scored two goals to surpass Adam Graves for the third most goals in Rangers history (281), recorded his 500th career point and became the fifth Ranger to tally 100 career power play goals.

Kreider has points in five straight games (1G-7A), 10 points (3G-7A) in his last eight games and 25 points in his last 27 games (12G-13A).

Kreider also has 41 game winning goals with the Rangers, tied with Mark Messier for the fourth most in team history.

FORECHECK, BACKCHECK, TROCHECK

Vincent Trocheck has four points in his last six games (2G-2A), seven points in his last nine games (2G-5A) and 27 points (7G-20A) in his past 28 games.

Trocheck is one of four players in the NHL to have both 29 or more points and 45 or more hits. Others: J.T. Miller, Rasmus Dahlin, and Filip Forsberg.

Among NHL skaters with 500 or more faceoffs, Trocheck ranks first in faceoff percentage (62.9).

ADAM’S APPLES

Adam Fox has assists/points in nine of his last 13 games (12A) and overall has points in 17 of 24 games this season (3G-20A). In the NHL among defensemen, Fox has the fourth most (tied) points per game (1.00).

Since his rookie season in 2019-20, Fox has been one of the best defensemen in the NHL.