J.T. Miller of the New York Rangers achieved a major milestone on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, recording his 700th NHL point during a 5–4 overtime victory against the Minnesota Wild. Miller earned the milestone by assisting on K’Andre Miller’s second-period goal, which tied the game at 2–2. This achievement came in his 864th career game.
Miller’s current season totals stand at 61 points through 65 games, including 19 assists and 42 points, split between 40 games in Vancouver and 25 in New York. After the milestone, Miller’s wife, Natalie, shared an Instagram story celebrating the achievement, with a simple caption: “So proud of you.”
Originally drafted 15th overall by the New York Rangers in 2011, J.T. Miller has tallied 257 goals and 443 assists across 864 regular-season games during his career, which has included stints with the Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Vancouver Canucks. Miller was reacquired by the Rangers in a trade this past January, and since then, the 32-year-old has contributed 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists), becoming an integral part of New York’s playoff push.
Head coach Peter Laviolette addressed the Rangers’ recent struggles on the power play, with the team going just 2-for-41 over their last 15 games despite experimenting with various strategies. “It’s moved around quite a bit, it’s not like we’re sitting here stuck on one thing,” Laviolette said. “We’re moving it around, trying different options and we work on it in practice. We’ll continue to look at it and look at the personnel that we have and what we can do to make that effective inside of a game.”
Despite a 36-32-7 record, the Rangers are still outside of the postseason picture, tied with the Montreal Canadiens at 79 points. However, the Canadiens have a game in hand, putting them ahead of New York in the standings.