Erik Gustafsson collected one goal and one assist and goaltender Igor Shesterkin regrouped to reach his top form after surrendering an early goal as the visiting New York Rangers claimed a 3-1 victory over the slumping Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
Alexis Lafreniere and Chris Kreider also scored in the win, while Filip Chytil collected a pair of assists for the Rangers, who won consecutive games for the first time this season and earned back-to-back wins as part of a five-game trip. Shesterkin made 24 saves.
Artemi Panarin tallied one assist and now has a six-game point streak to start the season for the second consecutive campaign.
Blake Coleman scored for the Flames, who have lost three straight games. Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 shots.
The Flames claimed a lead just over one minute into the clash, but the Rangers took control with a trio of second-period goals, starting with Lafreniere’s power-play goal at the 7:38 mark. Lafreniere was parked in front of the net and deflected Gustafsson’s point shot for his third goal of the season.
Kreider put the hosts ahead with another power-play goal at 14:09 of the period. Kreider was parked at the side of the net and neatly redirected a pass for his fifth score of the season.
Gustafsson’s second marker of the season, at 16:53 of the middle frame, gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead. Markstrom stopped Chytil’s long shot, but the puck trickled through him and was in the crease for Gustafsson to tap into the cage.
Calgary had no answer on a night where it opened the scoring. The Flames, who returned home after a one-win, five-game trip, received a much-needed early boost when Coleman scored 75 seconds into the clash. It was his 200th career point.
Coleman came within a whisker of doubling the Calgary lead a couple of minutes before the Rangers got on the board, but Shesterkin came up with a clutch save that springboarded his team to victory.
The loss was double costly for Calgary. Forward Adam Ruzicka left the game late in the first period after he was on the receiving end of a hard hit by Jimmy Vesey, which the Flames argued should have been a penalty.
–Field Level Media
