Rangers trip Canucks in overtime thriller

VANCOUVER — K’Andre Miller scored his first goal of the season in overtime as the New York Rangers defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 Saturday night in a nail-biting NHL game.

Miller took a pass from Chris Kreider and buried it behind Canuck goaltender Casey DeSmith at 3:48.

Carson Soucy had tied the game for Vancouver with a blast from the blue line at 15:42 of the third period.

Early in the three-on-three overtime Vancouver’s Andrei Kuzmenko made a nice move around the Ranger defence and forced goaltender Igor Shesterkin to make two saves. Kuzmenko later shot wide on a breakaway.

J.T. Miller, on the power play, and defenceman Tyler Myers scored short-handed for the Canucks (5-2-1). The Canucks, who had beaten the St. Louis Blues 5-0 Friday night, saw a three-game winning streak snapped.

Defenceman Filip Hronek had two assists.

The Rangers scored three power-play goals, two of them in a wild third period.

Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox scored 1:03 apart in the third period. Fox’s goal came with the Rangers on a two-man advantage. Zibanejad also had two assists.

Artemi Panarin scored the other Rangers goal on a first-period power play. The Rangers (6-2-0) extended their winning streak to four games.

DeSmith stopped 20 shots.

Shesterkin made 30 saves.

Myers did it all himself on his short-handed goal at 9:06 of the third. The big defenceman intercepted a pass at his own blue line, skated up the ice, went in on net with a two-on-one with Sam Lafferty then beat DeSmith on the stick side.

The goal came with the Canucks killing a double minor after Phillip Di Giuseppe was called for high-sticking Zibanejad.

Vancouver tied the game 1-1 on Miller’s second-period, power-play goal after the Rangers were called for too many men on the ice. Planted in front of the net Miller deflected Hronek’s point shot past Shesterkin on the stick side at 15:57.

It was Vancouver’s first power-play goal on 12 opportunities. They were 0-4 against the Blues Friday night.

New York lead 1-0 after the first period.

The Rangers took advantage when the Canucks got into penalty trouble midway through the period, giving New York a two-man advantage for 1:05. First Dakota Joshua was sent off for roughing followed by Hronek for delay of game.

With the Rangers pressing, Vincent Trocheck had a good chance that DeSmith stopped, and Zibanejad rang a shot off the post, before Panarin scored with a shot through traffic at 9:18.

The goal came after Vancouver’s Brock Boeser had two good chances on a Canucks power play.

NOTES

Goaltender Thatcher Demko recorded his fourth career shutout in the Canucks win over St. Louis. … By collecting two assists against St. Louis, Elias Pettersson matched a Canuck franchise record of reaching 10 assists in seven games, joining Thomas Gradin (1980-81), Jiri Bubla (1983-84) and Paul Reinhart (1989-90). … Vancouver centre Jack Studnicka was a healthy scratch for the third straight game. … For the first time in franchise history the Rangers allowed one or fewer goals in their first five games of the season. … Ranger centre Barclay Goodrow played his 500th career NHL game. He became the 20th undrafted player currently active in the NHL to play in 500 or more games.

UP NEXT

The Canucks host the Nashville Predators on Halloween night, then travel to San Jose to play the Sharks on Thursday.

The Rangers’ road trip continues with a stop in Winnipeg Monday before returning home to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2023.