The New York Rangers stayed perfect at home on Sunday night, putting together a convincing showing against the Vancouver Canucks in a game that kept rolling their way after a tied first period.
New York opened with purpose despite the absence of Igor Shesterkin for the rest of the season, and the second line got the party started. On a shot from J.T.
Miller, Tye Kartye tracked down a long rebound and buried his first goal of the season to give the Rangers the early edge. The second line has been generating good looks all year, but the finish had been missing a bit.
That changed here, and it came at even strength.
Vancouver answered before the period was over. Jake DeBrusk netted his third goal of the season to even things at 1-1, a goal Dylan Garand may have wanted back, but the Canucks had pulled level heading into the intermission.
The second period brought more back-and-forth and three goals in all. Will Cuylle snapped the tie with his first of the season, a welcome finish for a forward who has been playing strong hockey.
Vancouver countered again, this time with a short-handed strike from Elias N. Pettersson after New York got caught out of position and didn’t have the numbers back.
But before the period closed, Kartye struck again for his second goal of the night.
From there, the third period belonged entirely to the Rangers. Alexis Lafreniere scored on the power play for his fifth of the season, finishing off an assist from Gabe Perreault. There was a notable shift on the first power-play unit, with Perreault moving into Pavel Dorofeyev’s spot, and the move paid off right away for Sullivan.
New York wasn’t done. Perreault then scored one of his own, set up by Adam Fox, adding to what was a strong night for the young forward.
Cuylle put the finishing touch on the win late in the third, scoring his second of the game to make it 6-2. That gave the Rangers a season-high goal total and capped off an impressive all-around performance.
The Rangers will be back in action Tuesday night when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in their second game of the young season.
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The start to 2026-27 has only sharpened the case for more trust. Through seven games, Lafrenire is leading the Rangers in both points and goals, and his early scoring pace has been a bright spot for a team looking for exactly this kind of breakthrough from a player still trying to turn potential into something more permanent. [Read more 🡒]