Chris Kreider scored twice, Igor Shesterkin made 45 saves and the New York Rangers opened a four-game road trip with a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
Kreider scored for the third straight game and netted his 37th and 38th goals. He pulled into a tie with Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl for second and moved within one of Auston Matthews for the league lead.
Kreider got his latest goals in two different ways.
With 2:32 remaining in the first period, Kreider scored his league-leading 19th power-play goal to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. He crashed the net, and when Artemi Panarin's cross-ice pass from the left side deflected off the stick of Winnipeg's Adam Lowry, Kreider backhanded the puck past goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
Kreider got his second goal by finishing off a partial breakaway 6:21 into the third.
After Shesterkin made consecutive saves on Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mika Zibanejad cleared the defensive zone by banking the puck off the right boards in the offensive zone. Kreider outraced Jets defenseman Nate Schmidt and backhanded the puck with Hellebuyck sprawled out in the crease.
Barclay Goodrow and Zibanejad also tallied for the Rangers, who won their third straight game and improved to 8-2-1 in their past 11.
Shesterkin made 14 saves during six Winnipeg power plays and improved to 8-1-1 in his past 10 starts. He maintained the two-goal lead in the final minute of the first period when he dove backward and used his glove to prevent a shot from Mark Scheifele from crossing the goal line during a Winnipeg power play.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored a power-play goal in the second for the Jets, who lost for the sixth time in eight games (2-4-2).
Hellebuyck allowed four goals on 22 shots.
Goodrow opened the scoring 2:01 into the game when he got a cross-ice pass from Jacob Trouba and deflected the puck into the right side of the net.
After Kreider's first goal made it 2-0, the Jets halved the deficit with 6:26 remaining in the second when Ehlers blasted a wrister from the left side past Shesterkin after the initial shot was blocked.
A little over three minutes after Kreider's second goal, Zibanejad made it 4-1 when he deflected Trouba's blast from the left point into the net.
--Field Level Media
NY Rangers | Winnipeg | |
Chris Kreider 2 | Points | Nikolaj Ehlers 1 |
Chris Kreider 2 | Goals | Nikolaj Ehlers 1 |
Artemi Panarin 2 | Assists | Andrew Copp 1 |
Chris Kreider 1 | Power Play Goals | Nikolaj Ehlers 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Igor Shesterkin .978 | Save Percentage | Connor Hellebuyck .818 |
Igor Shesterkin 45 | Saves | Connor Hellebuyck 18 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
NY Rangers | 22 | 4 | 1-2 | 5-6 | 12 | 16 |
Winnipeg | 46 | 1 | 1-6 | 1-2 | 4 | 25 |