Patrick Kane scores first goal as a Ranger in shootout win in Montreal

MONTREAL — Patrick Kane continues to get most of the attention as far as the Rangers go these days. The future Hall of Famer, who joined the Blueshirts last week after the three-team trade that sent him from Chicago to Broadway, did manage to record his first two points — and his first goal — as a Ranger on Thursday against the Canadiens at Bell Centre.

But when the Rangers were down and staring a potentially brutal loss in the face against the banged-up and rebuilding Canadiens, it was the duo of Mika Zibanejad and goaltender Igor Shesterkin that did most of the heavy lifting as the Rangers rallied for a 4-3 shootout win in the opener of their three-game road trip.

Zibanejad scored the only goal of the tiebreaker. Shesterkin was huge in the third period and overtime, then stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, helping the Rangers snap a two-game losing streak.

“Yeah, I enjoy the shootout,’’ said Shesterkin, who has stopped 17 of 23 shootout attempts and is 4-2 in the tiebreaker this season.

Shesterkin made five saves in the third period and three in overtime, two of them on a power play the Canadiens got with 1:27 remaining in OT when Adam Fox was called for holding.

In the shootout, Montreal went first, and Rem Pitlick shot high and wide on the first attempt. Kaapo Kakko went first for the Rangers and his forehand-backhand attempt was saved by Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault. Shesterkin then stopped Montreal captain Nick Suzuki, Zibanejad scored and Shesterkin stopped Alex Belzile to win it.

“I usually want to put Mika first, but he’s pretty tired [after helping kill the penalty at the end of the overtime],’’ coach Gerard Gallant said. “So a couple of guys on the bench said don’t put him first, let him go second. I listened, for once.’’

Kane’s first goal as a Ranger came on the power play — one of two extra-man goals the Rangers scored in the game — and tied the score at 3-3 at 14:31 of the second period. The goal was the 447th of his career and 17th of the season. But it was his first in a Rangers jersey in his third game with the team.

“It was a long, long like four or five days [since the Rangers’ last game on Saturday in Boston], just waiting for this one to try and get going again, get back on the scoresheet,’’ Kane said. “So it’s nice to get one.’’

Montreal native Alexis Lafreniere tipped in a shot by Fox on the power play at 3:16 of the first period to tie the score at 1-1 after Montreal’s Kaiden Guhle opened the scoring 35 seconds into the game. Jacob Trouba scored 48 seconds into the second period to tie the score at 2-2.

The last two goals in regulation both came on the same Rangers power play in the second period, and Kane figured in both of them.

First, Kane inexplicably lost the puck in the right circle and Montreal’s Chris Tierney scooped it up and sprinted away on a two-on-one. Tierney passed it to Josh Anderson, who beat Shesterkin for a shorthanded goal to give the Canadiens a 3-2 lead at 13:20.

But Kane redeemed himself when he fired from the top of the left circle, through a screen, and beat Montembeault.

“Stuff like that happens,’’ Gallant said of Kane’s turnover. “I mean, it’s just an awful turnover. He just lost the puck, and away they go. So it’s no big deal. He played well, he’s getting to know his teammates, feel with his teammates, and it’s great when he scored the first goal with our group and the power play got two tonight. So that was big for us.’’

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.