Former Kraken Wennberg OT Hero For Rangers In ECF Game 3 vs. Panthers

After the New York Rangers acquired center Alex Wennberg (#91 in above photo) from the Seattle Kraken at the trade deadline in March, the same mantra was repeated over and over.

"We didn't get Wennberg to score goals."

And boy did that hold true, until the biggest game of the year so far. Wennberg, standing in front, re-directed Ryan Lindgren's point shot past Sergei Bobrovsky at 5:35 of overtime Sunday. That gave the Rangers a 5-4 victory - and a 2-1 series lead - in their Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the Florida Panthers.

In his previous 12 postseason games with the Rangers, Wennberg had scored exactly zero goals. In his last 12 regular season games with the Blueshirts, Wennberg scored exactly zero goals.

And you know what? Right now, no Rangers fans care.

In exchange for the Swedish forward, Seattle received a 2024 2nd round draft pick, which they will use or package next month at the NHL Draft in Las Vegas. The Kraken also got a 2025 4th round pick originally belonging to the Dallas Stars.

Wennberg, who's 29, had scored nine goals and 25 points in 60 games for Seattle at the time he departed for New York. Eric Duhatschek and Shayna Goldman wrote this trade analysis for The Athletic on March 6:

"Overall, (Wennberg's) a serviceable NHLer, a reliable minute muncher, and someone able to play in all situations. It’s not a sexy add because Wennberg falls into a lower-end-of-the-roster grey area. He’s not a genuine top-six forward on a good team, but he can be an effective and versatile third-liner - which is really what the Rangers needed at this point."

And as of May 26, an overtime hero.