Alexis Lafreniere showing Rangers theres more to his game as Mike Sullivans trust grows

The first goal in Alexis Lafrenière’s eventual hat trick Tuesday showcased what the Rangers have known, the offensive flashes they’ve always tried to make sustainable with the No.1 pick in 2020.  Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.

But the final two, which occurred 32 seconds apart in the third period of their 5-2 win, captured another step for Lafrenière.His defensive game has earned the trust of head coach Mike Sullivan in 5-on-6 situations — when opponents have their goaltender pulled while trailing late — recently, and during the past two wins, Lafrenière has rewarded that belief. “It means a lot,” Lafrenière said postgame of Sullivan’s trust in those situations.

“You always want to be out there late in games, either when you’re down one, up one, whatever it is.” That serves as another layer of the phrase Sullivan used Monday, when he said that Lafrenière — after a strong finish last year to a 24-goal, 57-point campaign — still has “untapped potential.” There’s more that the Rangers coaching staff will “try to pull out of him,” Sullivan said. The offensive potential has always been evident with Lafrenière.That was the case again Tuesday, when Mika Zibanejad slid a pass to him from his knees early in the second period and Lafrenière ripped a shot past Semyon Varlamov, off the crossbar and in.

Those moments have been fleeting for most of his Blueshirts career, but Sullivan stuck by his top line of Lafrenière, Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault early in the season in hopes of capturing what made them the Rangers’ most dynamic group to end 2024-25.Their production Tuesday, which helped extend their winning streak to four games, was another sign that Sullivan’s strategy has started to pay off. But then there’s the 5-on-6.

The late-game situations.The chance that Sullivan described as an earned responsibil...