NEW YORK—Vincent Trocheck had two goals and an assist, Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves and the New York Rangers ended a four-game losing streak with a 5–2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday, Feb. 26.
Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin each had a goal and an assist, Alexis Lafreniere also scored and Adam Fox had two assists for New York.
Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller was given a match penalty and ejected after spitting at Kings defenseman Drew Doughty late in the first period, leaving the Rangers with just five defensemen the remainder of the game.
Viktor Arvidsson had a power-play goal late in the second period, Matt Roy scored early in the third and Phillip Danault had two assists for Los Angeles.
Jonathan Quick stopped four of seven shots for Los Angeles before being pulled after Trocheck’s second goal late in the second period. He was replaced by Pheonix Copley, who had 12 saves. The Kings are 1–2–1 so far on their five-game road trip.
Shesterkin had a bounce-back game a day after he was pulled after allowing five goals on 22 shots in a 6–3 loss at Washington.
The Rangers made it 3–0 early in the second period on two goals by Trocheck just 1:35 apart. Trocheck’s shot deflected off Roy’s stick at 2:02 and his wrister at 3:37 beat Quick for his 19th goal of the season.
The Kings made it 3–2 early in the third period on Roy’s ninth goal at 1:27. But Panarin answered for the Rangers just 44 seconds later for his 19th. Zibanejad added his 31st on the power play at 5:26 to put the Rangers in control.
The Kings got on the board on Arvidsson’s 18th goal with 1:48 left in the second as he batted the puck out of the air and past Shesterkin.
The Rangers opened the scoring in the first period as they took advantage of a turnover in the Kings’ zone. Filip Chytil got the loose puck to Lafreniere at the left side of the net. He he sent a pass to Kaapo Kakko, who sent a pass back and Lafreniere’s shot deflected off Quick for his 11th of the season 14 minutes into the game.
Notes:
Zibanejad left the game late in the second period after blocking Doughty’s shot on a power play. He returned for the start of the third period. ...Rangers D Ryan Lindgren was not in the lineup a day after being injured on a hit by Capitals forward T.J. Oshie in the first period of Saturday’s loss. He is listed as day to day. ...Lafreniere has points in seven of his past 11 games (five goals, two assists) and 10 of his past 15 games (six goals, five assists). ...The Rangers recalled C Ryan Carpenter from Hartford of the AHL and sent F Jake Leschyshyn to the Wolf Pack. ...The teams met in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, which the Kings won in five games.Up Next
Kings: At Winnipeg on Tuesday night to finish a five-game road trip.Rangers: At Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
