NEW YORK — Chris Kreider scored a hat trick, Adam Fox had 4 assists and Jonathan Fast made 31 saves because the New York Rangers downed the Montreal Canadiens 7-4 on Thursday to match a season finest with their sixth straight victory.
Mika Zibanejad added a purpose and two assists for the Rangers, who additionally acquired targets from Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck and Kaapo Kakko. Artemi Panarin added three assists.
The Rangers, who equaled their season excessive for targets, scored 4 occasions in 4:10 in the course of the second interval after Montreal took a 1-0 lead within the first.
“We got here out within the second with a bit of fireside and a bit extra jam,” Fox stated. “Numerous the pictures on web. We acquired some targets from that.”
Cole Caufield had two targets for Montreal, which has misplaced three of 4. Jake Evans and Juraj Slafkovsky additionally scored for the Canadiens.
The 38-year-old Fast turned the oldest goaltender in Rangers historical past with a four-game successful streak. He’s 13-4-2 total this season, and the victory moved him inside one among tying Dominik Hasek for fifteenth place in NHL historical past (389). Fast is three wins from tying Ryan Miller for many amongst American-born goaltenders at 391.
The Rangers are 7-1-1 of their final 9 video games and 5-0-0 in February popping out of the All-Star break. They lead the Metropolitan Division by eight factors, equaling a season excessive. Second-place Carolina has two video games in hand.
Evans opened the scoring along with his fourth purpose of the season, beating Fast at 14:29 of the primary.
Kreider tied it at 11:09 of the second. Shortly after he was denied on a breakaway by Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault, Kreider rifled the puck into the Montreal web. Zibanejad and Jacob Trouba assisted.
Cuylle put the house staff forward 2-1 along with his tenth purpose at 12:27. Fox and Ryan Lindgren assisted.
Zibanejad then prolonged the lead at 14:43 with a short-handed purpose. Fox and Panarin assisted as Zibanejad fired his seventeenth purpose of the season previous Montembault earlier than Kreider made it 4-1 on the facility play at 15:19 along with his second purpose of the evening.
“We weren’t pleased with the primary,” Zibanejad stated. “We wanted to do one thing completely different within the second. … You will have these momentum swings. At the moment we capitalized on our momentum swing.”
Slafkovksy narrowed the deficit to 4-2 along with his twelfth purpose at 16:30 of the second.
Trocheck added his sixteenth at 4:23 of the third to revive the three-goal lead earlier than Caufield scored on the facility play at 6:53 to make it 5-3.
Kreider accomplished his sixth profession hat trick and first this season along with his twenty seventh purpose at 7:59, with assists to Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey. The 32-year-old ahead has 292 profession targets, third on the Rangers checklist behind Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336).
“Mika, Cunning and Kreids, they actually picked it up,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette stated. “These guys had huge nights for us.”
Kakko elevated the result in 7-3 along with his sixth at 9:56 earlier than Caufield scored his second of the sport and nineteenth of the season at 11:27.
“They’re an excellent staff. They’re a deep, veteran staff. They know what to do,” Caufield stated. “It was an excellent first interval however now we have to play a full 60 minutes. There is no excuse for that.”
Rangers ahead Blake Wheeler injured his proper leg halfway via the primary interval and needed to be helped off the ice. He was dominated out for the remainder of the sport with a lower-body damage.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Face the rival New York Islanders for the primary time this season in an outside recreation Sunday afternoon in New Jersey.
Canadiens: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
