New York Rangers Crush Canucks 5-1, Scoring Four Goals in Second Period

Glenn Gawdin scored the first two goals of his career and the New York Rangers overwhelmed the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 at Rogers Arena on Friday night.

The victory gave the Rangers six out of a possible eight points on their four-game road trip out West, leaving them at 12-8-1 on the season and third in the Metropolitan Division.

Meanwhile, the Canucks stumbled to their seventh consecutive defeat, sliding to 3-17-1 overall. Having also dropped 17 of their past 18 games since October 4, Vancouver remains the league’s lowest-scoring defensive team on average and sits last in the standings.

Prior to Friday’s matchup, New York had secured road wins against the Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames while dropping a tightly contested game to the Edmonton Oilers.

First-Period Trading of Blows

Boeser, a 29-year-old right-winger from Burnsville, Minnesota, reached 233 goals and 267 assists, becoming the eighth player in Canucks franchise history to achieve the 500-point milestone.

The Rangers answered late in the period. J.T. Miller won a hard-fought battle along the boards against Pettersson, sliding the puck behind the net to Alexis Lafrenière. Lafrenière set up Gabe Perreault for a short-side snipe at 18:47 to tie the game 1-1. The score marked Perreault’s seventh goal of the campaign and his third in the last five contests.

Four-Goal Second Period Barrage

New York seized control during a dominant second period where they out-shot Vancouver 12-4 and posted an expected goal share of 84.02 percent at five-on-five, alongside a 16-6 advantage in high-danger scoring opportunities. Oliver Bjorkstrand broke the tie at 8:21 on the power play, taking a cross-ice pass from Miller at the top left hash mark to wrist a shot past Leevi Meriläinen’s blocker arm for a 2-1 lead.

The game unraveled for the hosts shortly after. Meriläinen attempted to clear the puck from his crease but hit returning center Filip Chytil in the skate.

The loose puck fell directly to Gawdin, who buried it into the yawning net at 13:00 for his first NHL goal. Gawdin, a Richmond, British Columbia native, became the third-oldest Rangers player to score his first career NHL goal, following Alex Gray in 1927 and Bill Cook in 1926.

“That was a fortunate bounce on the first one, and then the second one, went to the net and usually good things happen, and yeah, off my foot and in,” Gawdin said.

That’s a perfect example, right? He wins a puck battle, it’s a one against two, actually, and he wins the puck, gives it to ‘Laf’ behind the net, Laf makes a nice play to Gabe, and it’s a (heck) of a goal.

Sullivan

Garand Saves 27 Shots as Vancouver Players Return

Vancouver pushed back in the final frame, outshooting the visitors 13-8, but Garand stopped every attempt to preserve the four-goal cushion and even his record at 7-7-1. Garand finished the night with 27 saves on 28 shots, while Meriläinen turned away 25 of 30.

The matchup also featured lineup changes for Vancouver, welcoming back Filip Chytil—who missed the previous five games with a shoulder injury—and defenseman Tom Willander, who returned after a four-game absence due to a lower-body injury.

Chytil recorded two shots in 17:14 of ice time, while Willander registered three shots in 17:04. Defenseman Cameron Crotty logged 12:18 of ice time in his club debut after being claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

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I think the story of the second was just our unwillingness or inability to stick to the script.

Manny Malhotra, Canucks head coach