The Rangers are heading back to New York with a 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks and a road trip that ended the way they wanted it to. On Friday night at Rogers Arena, New York shook off an early deficit, took over in the second period and closed out a 3-1-0 swing through Seattle and Western Canada.
The night belonged to Glenn Gawdin, who scored twice in his second game with the Rangers and his 15th NHL appearance. The 29-year-old British Columbia native became the third-oldest Ranger - and the oldest since the team’s inaugural season in 1926-27 - to score his first NHL goal. He was named the game’s First Star after a performance that turned a solid win into a memorable one.
“It was a special night,” he said postgame.
Gabe Perreault, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers (12-8-1), while J.T. Miller chipped in two assists and brushed off the boos from the Vancouver crowd.
Dylan Garand, playing in Vancouver for the first time in the NHL, stopped 27 shots and had more than 50 family members and friends in the building to see it. He beat the Canucks for the second time in as many games this season.
Vancouver got on the board first through Elias Pettersson, but that was about the high point for the home team. The Canucks dropped their seventh straight and fell to 1-9-0 at home, with Leevi Merilainen making 25 saves while often being left exposed after the opening period.
New York’s response started late in the first and snowballed fast after that. The Rangers were buzzing early, forcing Merilainen into stops on Tye Kartye, Adam Fox and Noah Laba before Vancouver grabbed the game’s first power play at 6:10 when Fox was called for cross-checking Drew O’Connor. The Canucks controlled the puck for most of that advantage, but the Rangers kept them to the outside and didn’t allow a shot on goal.
Vancouver eventually found the opener at 12:13, when Pettersson redirected a Zeev Buium shot past Garand for a 1-0 lead. Pettersson had position in the slot on former teammate Marcus Pettersson, and Garand never got a clean look at the puck.
But the Rangers answered before the period ended. At 18:47, Miller moved the puck to Lafreniere behind the net, and Lafreniere fed Perreault in front for a quick shot that beat Merilainen to the short side. That made it 1-1 and set the tone for what followed.
The second period was all Rangers. New York scored four times, while Vancouver managed just four shots.
Bjorkstrand put the Rangers ahead for good at 8:21, finishing off the team’s first power-play goal against the NHL’s worst penalty-killing unit. Miller found him alone in the slot, and Bjorkstrand snapped the puck past Merilainen for a 2-1 lead.
Gawdin’s first NHL goal came at 13:00 and had a little bit of chaos attached to it. Merilainen tried to move the puck out of his zone, but the pass struck a teammate and bounced right to Gawdin, who took one stride and fired a high shot from 25 feet out to make it 3-1.
Lafreniere followed with a highlight-reel finish at 15:14. After a strong setup from Perreault and a terrific pass from Mika Zibanejad, Lafreniere deked Merilainen and tucked in a backhand to stretch the lead to 4-1.
Gawdin wasn’t done. At 16:10, Vladislav Gavrikov fired a slap shot from the left point, and Gawdin was parked in front of the net to Merilainen’s left. The puck hit his skate and slid inside the post for his second goal of the night and a 5-1 cushion.
Vancouver pushed back some in the third, opening with the first seven shots and forcing Garand into a couple of sharp saves. The Canucks also killed a penalty, and Garand later robbed Pettersson with his glove before denying Linus Karlsson with a diving stop during a mid-period power play.
The only thing missing for Gawdin was a hat trick, even after coach Mike Sullivan gave him a couple of late shifts on the first line. Still, the Rangers left with a fifth win in six games and a trip home that sets up Monday’s matchup with the Montreal Canadiens in the “Capstone Game,” marking the centennial of their NHL debut - a 1-0 win over the Montreal Maroons on Nov. 16, 1926.
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What makes this comparison worth watching is not just who added what, but how each front office is trying to solve the same problem in its own way. The Rangers can look around the Metro and find examples of disciplined management, bold moves and long-term planning, but the bigger question is which lessons actually apply in New York, and which ones only underline how much work still needs to be done. [Read more 🡒]