K'Andre Miller scored the game-winning goal at 11:46 of the third period as the New York Rangers were 2-1 winners over the New Jersey Devils in an exhibition game Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
He is the son of 1988 Fairmont High School graduate Amy Sokoloski,
It was his second goal of the exhibition season. He also scored in the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the New York Islanders last Monday.
Miller, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound defenseman, was selected by the Rangers with the No. 22 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
He played high school hockey at Minnetonka before joining the USA Hockey National Team Development Program and spent two seasons in the United States Hockey League and in international tournaments like the 2016 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and the 2018 IIHF World U18 Championships.
After the time in the development program, Miller spent two seasons with Wisconsin and also played in two straight IIHF World Junior Championships.
Miller left Wisconsin after two seasons to sign a contract with the Rangers. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he did not join the team until the 2020–21 season. He averaged more than 20 minutes of ice time per game and earned all-Rookie Team honors.
In 2021-22, he was the only Ranger to play in all 82 regular-season games. Miller was third on the team in plus-minus at plus-23. He had seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points.
In 20 playoff games Miller had two goals and five assists for seven points.
The Rangers won their first playoff series in seven games, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes before losing in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals.
New York has two exhibition games remaining, hosting Boston Wednesday and playing at the New York Islanders next Saturday.
The Rangers open the regular season at home Tuesday, Oct. 11 vs. Tampa Bay in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals where the Blueshirts had a 2-0 lead before the Lightning won four straight.
New York then makes its only regular-season visit to Minnesota on Thursday, Oct. 13 as the Rangers play the Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul in Minnesota’s season opener.