Rangers rout Bruins for third straight win

BOSTON — The Rangers have a few things to be thankful for this week. Their tight defensive game seems to be coming back, and they also caught a couple of opponents, in Carolina on Wednesday and Boston on Friday, who were playing at less than full strength.

And they took full advantage.

Against a watered-down Boston team missing its best player and leading scorer in David Pastrnak along with first-line center Pavel Zacha, both out day-to-day with undisclosed injuries, plus No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy, out after taking a puck to the face earlier this month and undergoing surgery, the Rangers got two second-period power-play goals from Mika Zibanejad and a four-point game from Artemi Panarin in a 6-2 win over Boston at TD Garden.

It was the third straight win for the Rangers (13-11-2), who are 11-4-1 on the road and will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon.

The Rangers had beaten the Hurricanes, 4-2, on Wednesday in Raleigh. Carolina was missing star defenseman Jaccob Slavin, forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (who had shut out the Rangers on Nov. 4), and captain Jordan Staal.

“Any time you go into two tough buildings to get wins, it doesn’t really matter, kind of, who you’re facing,’’ said defenseman Carson Soucy, whose second goal of the season put the Rangers up 2-0 midway through the first period.

“Everyone’s kind of facing some injuries, obviously, with the [compressed] schedule. But it’s just big, going into two buildings, getting two wins.’’

“Certainly, it’s an opportunity that you have to take advantage of when it presents itself,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said of facing a weakened Bruins team. “And sometimes you’re on the wrong side of that, which we have been also. And so those games sometimes could be set up as ‘trap games,’ so to speak, as coaches call it, where you don’t bring the right mindset to a game like that.’’

The Rangers brought the right mindset, taking a 1-0 lead 3:28 into the game on Panarin’s third goal in four games, set up by a steal and a two-on-one centering pass by Will Cuylle.

Soucy’s goal, a one-timer that went through a screen and into the top corner of the net at 12:02, made it 2-0, and Zibanejad’s goals put the Rangers ahead 4-0 heading into the third period.

Boston (14-12) got two early goals in the third from Casey Mittelstadt at 4:07 and Morgan Geekie at 5:49 on a tip-in, but Alexis Lafreniere scored an empty-net goal with 3:24 remaining and Vladislav Gavrikov tacked on another with 2:58 left to put the game away.

Igor Shesterkin made 19 saves. With regular No. 2 goaltender Jonathan Quick currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, Sullivan could start Shesterkin again on Saturday.

“Might I? I might,’’ Sullivan said.

The Rangers led 2-0 but were on the defensive in the second period before the Bruins started taking penalties. They were finishing out their first power play when Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm was given a double-minor penalty for high-sticking Jonny Brodzinski at 14:15 of the period.

Given a five-on-three for six seconds, the Rangers scored one second after the first penalty expired as Zibanejad ripped a sharp-angle one-timer from the bottom of the left circle past goalie Joonas Korpisalo at 14:22.

Forty-five seconds later, Zibanejad took another left-circle one-timer, which he said was supposed to be a pass to J.T. Miller, stationed at the right goalpost. Before the puck could get to Miller, though, Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov deflected it in.

“Either way, I think that goes in,’’ Zibanejad said. “It touches Zadorov or it goes to [Miller]. So he’s in a perfect position.’’

Notes & quotes: The Rangers on Thursday returned D Connor Mackey to AHL Hartford and recalled D Scott Morrow from Hartford. Morrow had played two games in place of injured Will Borgen before being sent down to Hartford on Tuesday when the Rangers needed to call up G Dylan Garand to sub in for Quick. When Borgen was unable to come off IR to play in Carolina on Wednesday, Morrow had to stay in Hartford to play at least one game there before he could be recalled. He played for Hartford on Wednesday in a loss to Springfield. Stepping into the lineup Friday, he played 14:52, with one shot attempt and one shot block . . . D Urho Vaakanainen and Conor Sheary were the scratches.

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.