Rangers score 3 times in 3rd period for stirring 5-3 comeback win against Utah to close road trip
Two nights after blowing a third-period lead in an overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the New York Rangers stormed back with three unanswered goals in the final period to stun the Utah Hockey Club 5-3 on Thursday at Delta Center.
Reilly Smith scored the tying goal, Chris Kreider netted the eventual winner and Artemi Panarin put a bow on the stirring victory with his second goal of the game, this one into an empty net, to send the Rangers back to New York following a very successful road trip. The Rangers took five of six points (2-0-1) against the Vegas Golden Knights, Avalanche and Utah.
The Rangers (21-20-3), who are on a six-game point streak (4-0-2), won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods (1-17-1).
Igor Shesterkin finished with 28 saves and is 3-0-1 in four straight starts since missing four games with an upper-body injury. Arthur Kaliyev scored his first goal with the Rangers and Sam Carrick added two assists to give him back-to-back two-point games.
Matias Maccelli scored two goals for Utah, which has lost three straight games and is 2-8-2 in its past 12. Logan Cooley also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 20 saves.
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New York Rangers 5 – Utah Hockey Club 3

This one started badly for the Rangers, lowlighted by two familiar issues. They allowed another early first goal of the game, this one just 61 seconds into play. And the goal was scored after a Mika Zibanejad neutral zone turnover.
Zibanejad lost the puck near center ice, allowing Utah to take it away and skate into the offensive zone. Shortly thereafter Maccelli, stationed at the bottom of the left circle, buried a rebound off Barret Hayton’s initial shot to give Utah a quick 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Rangers to answer back. Panarin wired his first goal of the night past Vejmelka at 3:42 to tie the game 1-1. It was a rare goal off the forecheck for the Rangers, who forced a turnover behind the goal line when Vincent Trocheck pressured Mikhail Sergachev. Alexis Lafreniere scooped up the puck, zipped a pass to the left circle and Panarin finished off the neat scoring sequence.
The Rangers nearly took the lead on the next shift. Filip Chytil’s left-wing shot off the rush leaked through Vejmelka’s pads but carried wide of the net at 4:10. Three minutes later, Shesterkin stoned a wide-open Lawson Crouse, who blistered a one-timer on goal.
Maccelli beat Ryan Lindgren to a loose puck in the paint and tapped it over the goal line for his second goal of the game and seventh of the season at 8:12 to make it 2-1 Utah. The goal came after Shesterkin made two saves that pulled him away from the crease.
Again, the Rangers came back to tie the game. Kaliyev scored his first goal of the season, and first in four games with the Rangers after being claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings, at 16:25 to even things up. Again a Chytil shot from left wing snuck through Vejmelka’s pads. This time, Kaliyev was there to shove the puck into the back of the cage.
So, though the Rangers were out-shot 15-8 in the first period and were out-chanced 14-5, including 6-1 in high-danger opportunities, per Natural Stat Trick, they arrived at the intermission tied 2-2.
However, it took just 57 seconds into the second period for Utah to snag their third lead of the night. Cooley scored his 13th goal, snapping a one-timer past Shesterkin on the power play to put the Rangers in a 3-2 hole.
This was reminiscent of the first meeting between these teams on Oct. 12, when Utah grabbed three leads in the first two periods, before finally defeating the Rangers 6-5 in overtime in their home opener at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers wasted a prime opportunity to tie the game in the second period, when they had 1:14 of a 5-on-3 power play and failed to score. In fact, the Rangers recorded one shot on goal in the 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 combined, by Panarin, who also whistled two good chances wide of the net.
The Rangers tidied up their defensive game in the second period, though they were out-shot again, this time by an 8-6 margin. So, Utah carried a 3-2 lead into the third period.
It took the Rangers just 28 seconds to change that. Smith wired a short-handed goal past Vejmelka’s blocker to stun Utah and tie the score 3-3. It was Smith’s ninth goal of the season and second short-handed, for the Rangers, who are third in the NHL with seven shorties.
After failing on another power-play opportunity at 8:08, the Rangers scored at even strength to grab their first lead of the game at 10:22. Carrick won an offensive zone face-off and Kreider collected the puck, floated to his left and sent a shot off a Utah player’s stick and past Vejmelka to put the visitors up 4-3 with his 14th goal of the season.
The Rangers nearly doubled their lead at 13:35 but Vejmelka made a sharp lunging toe save to deny Lafreniere off the rush after a sweet pass from Chytil.
After Vejmelka was replaced by a sixth attacker late in the third period, Shesterkin had a clear lane and took a shot from his crease toward the empty Utah net, but the puck carried a few feet wide at 18:27.
Shesterkin then turned back into goalie mode and denied Maccelli on a clear look with 1:03 remaining in regulation. Seconds later, Carrick found Panarin on a breakaway and he hit the open net with 37.1 seconds to play to ice the comeback win with his 19th goal of the season.
Now the Rangers return home for an important game Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who also won Thursday and are in the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, five points ahead of the Blueshirts.
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