Artemi Panarin scores twice as Rangers beat Kraken to open road trip

SEATTLE — The Rangers’ season-high five-game road trip got off to a strange start Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena. Issues with poor lighting inside the building caused a delay early in the first period and created a situation in which the teams were forced to switch ends in the middle of all three periods in an attempt to even up the effects of the uneven lighting.

The Rangers managed to overcome any adversity caused by the lighting issues and got the trip off to a winning start, beating the Seattle Kraken, 4-1.

“Some of the discussion was they were thinking about playing it tomorrow, so it was like, no, we were all dressed here, let’s play,’’ Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick said. “I mean obviously, that was a little odd. But at the end of the day, everyone’s dealing with it, right? So I’m just glad it worked out the way it did.

“Right off the bat, like I noticed it was a little darker,’’ Quick said. “I didn’t know — like it’s Climate Pledge Arena, right? I didn’t know if they’re using something like energy-efficient bulbs or something. That’s literally what I was thinking.’’

Artemi Panarin had two goals and Filip Chytil had three assists for the Blueshirts (3-2). Their linemate, Alexis Lafreniere, also had a goal, giving the line three goals and six points.

“For me, I want it darker so it’s harder for goalies,’’ Panarin joked. “That’s why I scored two.’’

Kaapo Kakko scored the Rangers’ other goal and Quick, making his first start as a Ranger after signing with the team as a free agent over the summer, made 18 saves to earn the victory.

The game was stopped 1:09 into the first period because of the lighting problem and play resumed about 10 minutes later. With 9:50 remaining in the period, the teams changed ends.

The Kraken led 1-0 at that point, as defenseman Justin Schultz beat Quick with a one-timer from the left-wing circle at 8:41.

“It was kind of crazy, to be honest with you . . . switching ends,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “But we got the game off, it was good. Those things happen. You’ve just got to roll with it sometimes.’’

Panarin scored his first goal at 12:15, not long after the teams switched ends, lifting a shot over Philipp Grubauer’s left shoulder after defenseman Vince Dunn turned the puck over to Chytil on the left-wing boards. Chytil sent a pass to Panarin, who was all alone in the right circle.

The Rangers took a 3-1 lead in the second period on goals by Kakko at 13:02 and Lafreniere at 17:59. Both youngsters scored after the teams had switched ends again.

Kakko scored his first goal of the season just seven seconds after the switch, sweeping a rebound behind Grubauer. Lafreniere made it 3-1 when he lifted a feed from Chytil over Grubauer’s shoulder for his second goal of the season.

Quick, who did look a little scrambly at times in the first period, faced only 10 shots on goal in the first two periods, two in the second period.

The Kraken have scored one goal or fewer in four of their five games.

Panarin’s second goal of the game came at 5:30 of the third period when he took a pass from Chytil and beat Grubauer from the slot through traffic.

Quick had come off the bench to relieve Igor Shesterkin late in Thursday night’s 4-1 loss to Nashville, his first action since the preseason. He stopped all nine shots he saw in that game before Laviolette started him Saturday.

“It was always kind of penciled in for tonight,’’ Laviolette said after the morning skate. “I expect for us to play a better game defensively [than against Nashville] without as much risk to it. That’s clearly the message that is coming inside the room is that we need to do a better job of protecting our goalies.’’

After beating the Kraken, Laviolette said, “There were a lot of things that we could have improved upon. So I think we improved upon a lot of things.’’

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.