Rangers win again on road, edge Canucks 4-3
Chris Kreider’s goal midway through the third period snapped a tie and lifted the New York Rangers to another road win, this one 4-3 over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.
The Rangers (12-4-1) have won the first two games on this four-game road trip and are 7-1-0 away from Madison Square Garden this season. They also extended their overall winning streak to three games.
Kreider’s ninth goal came at 10:43 of the third period after a brilliant set of passes from linemates Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith. Igor Shesterkin made the one-goal lead stand up, making five saves down the stretch to close out the victory. Shesterkin finished with 20 saves.
It was the first Rangers win when they allowed more than two goals this season, and the second when surrendering the game’s first goal.
“I thought it was pretty steady, pretty solid,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said postgame.
Will Cuylle, Kaapo Kakko and Zibanejad each had one goal and one assist in the victory. Adam Fox contributed two assists.
The Canucks (9-6-3) played without two of their top scorers and finished a six-game homestand on a sour note, losing two straight and finishing 2-4-0. Brock Boeser is out with an injury and J.T. Miller took a leave of absence from the Canucks earlier on Tuesday.
Still, the Canucks battled and received goals from Quinn Hughes, Kiefer Sherwood and Connor Garland. Goalie Arturs Silovs made 29 saves.
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New York Rangers 4 – Vancouver Canucks 3
Unlike their 2-0 win against the Seattle Kraken to start this four-game road trip, this was not a “low-event” game Laviolette referred to that contest on Sunday. The teams exchanged a pair of goals each in the first period and one each in the second, to reach the final 20 minutes tied 3-3.
For the fourth time this season, the Rangers surrendered a goal less than a minute into the game. This time, Hughes was allowed to freelance through the slot untouched, burning Jacob Trouba in the process, before beating Shesterkin 34 seconds into the game.
It could’ve been worse than 1-0 because shortly thereafter Sherwood and Elias Pettersson were left all alone in front of the Rangers net, but neither could bury their shot not long after Hughes’ game-opening goal.
Instead, the Rangers tied it 1-1 at 2:43 when Zibanejad deflected K’Andre Miller’s slap shot from the left point past Garland. It was Zibanejad’s fourth goal of the season and second in the past three games, and made up for his line being ghosts on the goal scored by Hughes.
“To come back and score, that was really important to tie it 1-1,” Laviolette said. “It was a good response.”
The Rangers took their first lead of the night at 14:38. Cuylle got behind Hughes to skate into a long pass from Fox — that was tipped ever so slightly by Kakko in the neutral zone. The 22-year-old forward then ripped a left-shot past Silovs on the break-in to make it 2-1 in favor of the Rangers.
The goal was Cuylle’s sixth of the season and third in the past five games.
However, another poor defensive shift by the Zibanejad line cost the Rangers before the period concluded. Sherwood got a step on Smith to create a 3-on-2 rush for the Canucks, and Sherwood zipped a right-wing shot past Shesterkin after a slick saucer feed from Pettersson, tying the game 2-2 at 17:39.
Early in the second period, Silovs made one of the more unique saves you’ll see all season. Playing without his blocker and stick following some contact with Vincent Trocheck during a Rangers power play, and protecting his bare hand by hiding it behind his back, Silovs managed to make a body save and catch the rebound with his glove at 4:45 on Trocheck’s left-circle blast.
There was no stopping Kakko four minutes later, though. The forward scored his third goal, beating Silovs from between the circles after two slick passes — the first from left to right by Jonny Brodzinski to Cuylle, and then Cuylle’s dish into the slot for Kakko, who scored at 8:45 to make it 3-2.
The Canucks answered again and tied the game 3-3, when Garland scored off the rush from left wing at 13:02 when neither Trouba nor Ryan Lindgren played the shooter.
Tied early in the third period, Shesterkin was stung by a rising right-wing blast by Sherwood. After the whistle, the Rangers goalie took his mask off and checked to see if any of his teeth were loose. None the worse for wear, Shesterkin remained in the game.
On the next shift, Silovs rose to the occasion, stoning Alexis Lafreniere’s backhand shot off a semi-breakaway at 5:11.
The Rangers shut the Canucks down in the third period, taking seven of the first eight shots. That seventh Rangers shot ended up in the back of the Canucks net, when Kreider beat Silovs short side from left wing after a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Zibanejad and Smith at 10:43 to make it 4-3.
That held up to be the game-winner, and will carry the Rangers into Calgary, where the road trip continues with a game against the Flames on Thursday.
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