Rangers score five goals in third period in win over Chicago

CHICAGO — Teams are making trades all around the league and the Rangers did as well, sending minor league defenseman Joey Keane to Carolina for former first-round pick Julien Gauthier.

So with the NHL trade deadline on Monday, and the Rangers still a good distance away from the nearest playoff spot, time may be running out on the Blueshirt careers of a handful of players. Chief among those is free agent-to-be Chris Kreider, who doesn’t seem the slightest bit weighed down by the possibility he is playing his final games as a Ranger.

Kreider had a goal and two assists in the third period to break the Rangers out of a tight game against the Chicago Blackhawks and lead the way to a 6-3 victory that pulled them to within six points of a playoff spot in their long shot bid to reach the postseason. Each member of the first line, Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich, scored in the third period as the Rangers totaled five goals in the final 20 minutes to win for the fifth time in their last six games.

“That line was immense in the third period, and Kreids has had a great run here, playing great hockey for us,’’  coach David Quinn said.

Kreider set up Buchnevich’s goal at 2:33 of the third period, which broke a 1-1 tie, and  scored his 24th goal of the season at 8:48, which made the score 4-2 and ended up being the game-winner. He later assisted on Zibanejad’s goal, which closed the scoring.

“All three of those guys have had really good years,’’ Quinn said. “They’ve always had some sort of chemistry during the course of my time here, anyway. There is a good feel amongst those three guys that they rely on each other as a relationship off the ice and it carries over on the ice, and they’ve really built a good chemistry.’’

Of course, the trio could be headed for a breakup. There are only two games remaining before the deadline, Friday in Carolina and Saturday at home against San Jose. And if the Rangers can’t come to an agreement on a contract for Kreider, he is likely going to be traded. General manager Jeff Gorton is negotiating with Kreider’s agent, Matt Keator, but Kreider’s asking price — his market value has to be somewhere in the neighborhood of the seven years, $50 million that former Ranger Kevin Hayes got last summer from Philadelphia — may be too high for the Rangers.

Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin also scored for the Rangers in the third period, and Igor Shesterkin, back in the net for the first time since Feb. 11, made 37 saves.

“Igor played well,’’ Quinn said. “I know he’s [ticked] that he let in three goals, but we defended like we did two-and-a-half months ago. Hopefully we can get that game out of our system and get back to defending the way we have the last two months.’’

With Shesterkin back in goal after missing the last three games with an ankle injury, and Tony DeAngelo in the lineup after missing two games with a shoulder injury, the Rangers were fully healthy for the first time in a week, and looking to get back on the winning track after Sunday’s loss to league-leading Boston.

Filip Chytil gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead, beating Chicago goaltender Robin Lehner on a wide-angle shot from the left wing that slipped between the goalie’s pads at 1:58 of the first.

But the Blackhawks tied the score at 2:29 of the second period, when Dominik Kubalik, Chicago’s second-leading goal scorer, somehow got behind the Rangers defense and was wide open on the back door to slam home a one-timer off a no-look pass from 36-year-old Duncan Keith.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.