Mika Zibanejad scores twice on power play in third to lift Rangers past Golden Knights
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad celebrates his second goal of the third period against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. Credit: AP/John Locher
LAS VEGAS — Gerard Gallant had changed up his top forward line in the Rangers’ last game, the come-from-behind win Monday against the Blues, and he kept the new look — center Mika Zibanejad between Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko — together for Wednesday’s game against the Western Conference’s top team, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Each member of the top line scored — Zibanejad had two goals, both on the power play — and Filip Chytil, returning to the lineup after missing two games with a lower-body injury, also scored as the Rangers started off their two-game road trip with their second straight victory in a 5-1 win at T-Mobile Arena.
“It was a real good game,” Gallant said. “I mean I thought we played great hockey until we put those two penalties (in the second period, leading to the 5-on-3) and gave them some momentum there, but I thought we played as solid a game as we played all year, for sure.’’
The Rangers (13-10-5) complete the road trip with a game in Denver on Friday against the banged-up Colorado Avalanche.
Beside staying with Lafrenière and Kakko on the top line, Gallant took the opportunity to do some more tinkering with the lines. He created a new second line that featured Chytil with Artemi Panarin and Barclay Goodrow, and a third line that had Vincent Trocheck between wingers Chris Kreider and Jimmy Vesey.
“I think the way we played today was really good,"Lafrenière said. "We got a good effort from everyone on the team. so it’s when we play like that, we know we’re a really good team. so it was a great game for us.’’
Kakko got the Rangers on the board first when he deflected in a shot by K’Andre Miller for his fifth goal of the season, at 6:49 of the first period. It was Kakko’s first goal — and his first point — in eight games. But despite dominating possession and piling up a 15-5 advantage in shots on goal, the Rangers couldn’t add to the lead. And in the second period, Vegas took over.
The Golden Knights enjoyed a 17-11 advantage in shots on goal in the second — it was 17-6 before the Rangers got the final five shots of the period — and tied the game, 1-1, on a five-on-three power play goal by Jonathan Marchessault at 13:38. Trocheck had been sent off for a hooking penalty and Ryan Lindgren was penalized for cross-checking Mark Stone four seconds later. Marchessault cashed in with a backdoor one-timer for his 11th goal of the season.
But the Rangers managed to stabilize at the end of the period. The momentum shifted into the Rangers’ favor after Goodrow was getting sent off for an interference penalty with 4:23 left in the period after he had hit Shea Theodore into the back of the Vegas net, which toppled the goal frame onto goalie Logan Thompson.
With Vegas about to get a power play, Goodrow shoved Keegan Kolesar, who shoved back and the teams got into a scrum. Kolesar ended up getting a penalty for roughing on the play, which made it a four-on-four, rather than a Golden Knights power play. Goodrow and Kolesar then fought immediately after exiting the penalty box.
After that, the Rangers owned the third period. Zibanejad scored his first on a one-timer off a pass from Panarin (the assist was his 600th career point) to make it 2-1 at 5:59, and then Chytil took a sweet two-on-one pass from Goodrow and finished to make it 3-1 at 6:23.
Lafreniere, all alone at the bottom of the right circle, took a pass from Zibanejad and patiently waited for Thompson to go down and lifted a shot into the upper part of the net to make it 4-1 at 7:52. Zibanejad’s second goal, another one-timer, this one on a five-on-three, made it 5-1 at 11:34. He has 15 goals this season.
Notes & quotes: With Chytil back, rookie Vitali Kravtsov, who had played a season-high four straight games after sitting out eight in a row, was a surprise scratch. Kravtsov had played the last three games as the right wing on Panarin’s line. Gallant didn’t offer much in the way of an explanation for leaving Kravtsov out. “Coach’s decision,’’ he said. Beside Kravtsov, forward Ryan Carpenter, who played for Vegas in the team’s first two seasons, and D Ben Harpur were the other two scratches . . . Igor Shesterkin (12-4-4) made 25 saves. He stopped 16 of 17 shots he faced in the second period.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
