VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The New York Rangers found the formula for success in the NHL.

They are scoring bushels of goals at one end of the ice while managing to keep the puck out of their own net.

Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller scored two goals each as New York pounded the fading Vancouver Canucks 7-2 Tuesday night.

Just 17 games into the season, New York (13-4-0) has a league-leading 72 goals. At the same time, the Rangers haven't forgotten about defense. They have allowed 38 goals and lead the NHL with a plus-34 goal differential.

"Guys are defending first and finding ways to put the puck into the net," Miller said. "It's a tough thing to stop.

"I'm not surprised we're winning games. I know we have a good team and we're playing the right way."

New York's Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists. Brandon Pirri and Nick Holden also scored -- both on the power play -- for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers. Jesper Fast, Kevin Klein and Mika Zibanejad added two assists apiece.

The Rangers have 13 players who have collected 10 or more points so far this year. That compares to just two Canucks with double-digit points.

New York coach Alain Vigneault said building leads is helping the team play better defense. The Rangers led 3-1 going into the third period against Vancouver.

"We're scoring a lot of goals right now, and most of the nights we're playing with a lead," he said. "We were opportunistic at the right time."

Miller, who has seven goals and 10 assists, said every line is contributing. That makes shutting down the Rangers even more difficult.

"Obviously, it's surprising we're scoring at the rate we're scoring at right now, but we've got every line chipping in," he said. "That's one of the hardest things to stop, and that's something we've been doing since game one this season."

Defenseman Ryan McDonagh said the barrage of goals hasn't left the Rangers lax in their own end.

"We are able to keep it a lot tighter in our zone right now," he said. "We make sure we are taking care of the scoring areas, the tough areas where goals happen.

"We have that speed and skill off turnovers in our zone and transition play to be creative and make things happen. It's a simple formula for us, but we have to make sure we all buy in and be smart with the puck."

The win over Vancouver was the eighth in nine games for New York. The lone loss was a 5-3 defeat at home against the Canucks on Nov. 8. The Rangers have also held their opponents to two or fewer goals 11 times in the past 14 games.

It was another frustrating night for the Canucks, who have lost 11 of their past 13 games.

Brandon Sutter and Markus Granlund scored for Vancouver (6-10-1).

The Canucks outshot the Rangers 38-25. New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 36 saves, while Vancouver's Jacob Markstrom stopped 18 shots.

Vancouver kept the score close heading in the third before Hayes and Miller scored 42 seconds apart to put the game out of reach.

"I don't think we were playing bad hockey," Vancouver center Bo Horvat said. "We were getting lots of shots on net.

"The score of the game didn't really tell the actual game and how it actually went. I thought we put lots of pressure on them. We were in their zone most of the game. It's just the few little errors that we consistently keep doing."

Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said the game followed a frustrating pattern.

"I thought we played a really good first period," he said. "I thought it was a good second, too.

"They scored on their chances tonight, and that's the difference. It wasn't like we gave up. We made a couple of mistakes, and they ended up in our net."

NOTES: Brandon Sutter, normally a center, started the game playing right wing on Vancouver's top line with C Hendrik Sedin and LW Daniel Sedin. ... D Luca Sbisa joined Mark Steit and Jonas Hiller as the third Swiss to play 400 NHL games. ... C Markus Granlund was on the second line with LW Loui Eriksson and RW Derek Dorsett. ... Vancouver scratches were RW Jake Virtanen, D Philip Larsen and D Alex Biega. ... The Canucks' homestand continues Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes. ... The Rangers were without LW Chris Kreider (upper body) and RW Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms). ... New York C Cristoval Nieves made his NHL debut on the fourth line after being called up from Hartford of the AHL. He finished a minus-1. ... Rangers D Adam Clendening was a healthy scratch. ... The Rangers' road trip continues Friday in Columbus.