Rangers top line find its flow in authoritative win over Red Wings

There wasn’t much to fixate on through two games of the season, but Reilly Smith’s first go with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider was a natural one to gravitate toward, considering the circumstances of the Rangers’ RW1 history. And after the line struggled defensively and faded to the background offensively, the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Red Wings on Monday night at Madison Square Garden was a game that saw the trio find their flow. “I think we’re getting there,” Zibanejad said before the win, in which the Rangers’ No.1 center recorded his first point of the season after posting just one shot on goal and a minus-3 rating through the first two contests.

“I’ve mentioned this many times when you guys ask me about different linemates and this and that.So either it clicks right away, and it’s great — everyone wants that.

I think we’re right there.I think there’s a lot of good things that we have and we also continue talking. “The only way we can get better is obviously working at it and then being able to go back to the tape.

Going back to the game and saying, ‘What can we do differently? What can we do more of?’ I thought we’ve been creating some chances, so how can we get to that opportunity more often? Just go from there. “I think this could be something really good, but obviously we just got to keep working at it.Hopefully with time, we build the chemistry and we build that and we have a different conversation in a couple months.” The statistics didn’t tell the full story in this one — and they rarely do.

Comparatively speaking, Kreider, Zibanejad and Smith were standouts in this game, while the other lines that make up the top nine dominated the previous two. Smith scored his first goal as a Ranger in the third period for some insurance, whipping the puck in off Zibanejad’s faceoff win.Zibanejad then scored an empty-netter to put the game out of reach. The Rangers top power-play unit is back together for anot...