VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Barclay Goodrow skated in his 500th career game Saturday, making him the 20th undrafted active player to achieve the feat.
“He’s a leader on this team and somebody that you count on to play physical, kill penalties, multi-positional player,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think a team has a lot of different entities to it, and certainly to have a guy that plays the game the way he does, he’s valuable to our team.”
Among players who began their careers after the draft era began in 1963-64, Goodrow will be just the 49th to go undrafted, play at least 500 career games and win two Stanley Cups.
Goodrow, whose 57.1 faceoff win percentage is ranked third on the team among frequent draw takers, has skated on the left wing of the fourth line through the first eight games of the season. Nick Bonino has centered the unit, while Jimmy Vesey has played on the left side in all but two games.
Tyler Pitlick, who was scratched Saturday for the fifth straight game, slotted in that left wing spot on those two occasions.
In 35:57 of ice time, the fourth line (with Vesey) has been on the ice for one Rangers goal and zero against, according to Natural Stat Trick. Despite being on the wrong end of a 17-8 attempts and 9-1 high-danger chances, that unit has been solid, especially in late-game situations.
“They’re taking hard minutes,” Laviolette said of the fourth line. “They’re given hard minutes and they take them, and I think that they’ve done well with it. They compete hard, they start from the defensive zone, win faceoffs, try to get out of the defensive zone and into the offensive.
“For me, that’s a big responsibility to have that thrown upon you game after game. Then really take that and run with it as something that you’re trying to make part of your identity.”
Goalie Igor Shesterkin made his sixth start of the season in a 4-3 overtime win on Saturday, stopping 30 shots.
Ranere the most in the NHL, and he added two more Saturday.gers captain Jacob Trouba’s 27 blocked shots, before Saturday’s games, w
Defenseman Ben Harpur, who is with the Hartford Wolf Pack, skated in the 400th professional game of his career Friday.
The Rangers will fly to Winnipeg on Sunday before they face the Jets on Monday night at Canada Life Center.
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