LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, and the New York Rangers scored three times in 1:54 in the third period to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-1 on Wednesday night.
New York’s Artemi Panarin reached 600 career points, picking up his milestone point when he found Zibanejad, whose one-timer from the left circle put the Rangers in front 2-1 at 5:59 into the third. Panarin reached that number in his 535th game, and only Connor McDavid (421), Sidney Crosby (430), Alex Ovechkin (464) and Evgeni Malkin (490) have gotten there quicker.
The Rangers, who scored four times in the third period, are 7-2-1 in their last 10 road games.
They broke open a 1-all tie with the three-goal onslaught. After Zibanejad scored, Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere added goals in the game-changing stretch. Zibanejad added another score with 8:26 remaining, and has points in six consecutive games (five goals, four assists).
“We come to a building that’s loud, to a team that’s really good, and we’ve got 1-1 going into the third on the road,” Zibanejad said. “So we just regroup and see this as a good opportunity to get two points, and that’s what we did.”
New York’s scoring backed Igor Shesterkin, who saved 25 of 26 shots and improved to 12-4.
“He’s always strong for us, and he had a real good, solid game when he had to,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “I just thought it was a team win tonight. Everybody came ready to play from the fourth line to the last defenseman.”
Logan Thompson, saved 25 of 26 shots through the first two periods. He finished with 32 saves on 37 shots.
“We put ourselves in a good position after the second period to get back into the game,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Then we mismanaged the puck. Then it snowballs. It was an issue all game….