By Canadian Press

Canucks get off to fast start, hold on to beat Rangers 3-2

Oct 20, 2019 | 3:13 PM

NEW YORK — Vancouver captain Bo Horvat wanted to set the tone early after a tough loss the previous day. He got the Canucks started with a needed power-play goal and they bounced back with a big road win.

Brock Boeser and Jay Beagle scored late in Vancouver’s three-goal first period and the Canucks held on to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Sunday.

Elias Pettersson added two assists for Vancouver, which bounced back from a 1-0 loss at New Jersey on Saturday to win for the fifth time in six games.

“I took that onus on myself to be the guy to get the boys going,” Horvat said. “I was really upset about the last game, we should have scored more power-play goals and we should have at least gotten a point out of that. … When we do lose games we’re not ones to want to lose three straight, four straight and get on these losing skids. We want to bounce back and have a great game and continue winning.”

Jacob Markstrom, playing for the first time since Oct. 12, stopped 38 shots to win his third straight start after losing his first two.

International Spotlight

P.A.'s Howe one of 4 Sask. born players named to Canada's World Junior roster

5h ago

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

9h ago

Budget woes

Golf and curling centre faces grim season without financial boost

12h ago

“A little bit of redemption, but our team played amazing, we really did,” Beagle said. “Marky stood on his head. It was just a good overall win.”

Jesper Fast had a goal and an assist, and Artemi Panarin also scored for New York, which has lost four straight — including three in four days after playing just three times in the previous 14 days. Henrik Lundqvist finished with 40 saves.

“We should be so eager to get out there,” Lundqvist said. “But sometimes it’s hard to get going. That desperation should always be there. Especially losing three in a row.”

Rangers coach David Quinn shook up his lineup during Friday’s 5-2 loss at Washington, moving Chris Kreider to the top line with Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. Pavel Buchnevich was dropped to the second line, and rookie Kaapo Kakko down to the third. Buchnevich ended up on the fourth line during the second period but was back on the second later in the game.

Down 3-1 after 40 minutes, the Rangers came out aggressive in the third and controlled much of the play while outshooting the Canucks 17-6 in the final period.

“We knew they like to play wide-open,” Beagle said. “They have a lot of guys that run and gun. They love to go east-west and hardly ever dump it. … We got the job done.”

Panarin got the Rangers to 3-2 as he got a pass from Fast from behind the net, and quickly put it past Markstrom for his fourth at 5:31.

New York had several flurries of chances at the tying goal, pulling Lundqvist for an extra skater with 1:51 to go, but couldn’t get another one past Markstrom.

“We’ve got to play smarter,” Zibanejad said. “And it just shows you can’t just play for 25, 30 minutes. … You’ve got to play all 60 minutes. The whole game is not going to look perfect; it’s not going to be all good stuff, but we’ve got to learn to manage the game a little bit more.”

The Rangers finished 0 for 3 on the power play to fall to 1 for 17 with the man-advantage over the last four games.

With the Rangers trailing 3-0 after a lacklustre first period, Fast got them on the scoreboard late in the second. Standing in front of Markstrom, Fast deflected Jacob Trouba’s hard point shot past the goalie for his second.

The Canucks got off to a fast start with three goals in the first period while outshooting the Rangers 20-13. Vancouver scored on the power play, at even strength and short-handed.

Horvat took a pass from Pettersson and beat Lundqvist on a power play from the inside edge of the left circle for his second of the season and 100th of his career at 6:01. The Canucks came in with the league’s worst man-advantage and were 0 for 12 the previous two games.

Boeser made it 2-0 with 6:26 left in the opening period as he got a pass from Pettersson between the circles and fired a shot that went off Lundqvist’s glove and in for his second.

Then, with Tyler Myers off for hooking, Beagle brought the puck up the right side and beat Lundqvist on the glove side for his first of the season and fourth career short-handed goal.

NOTES: Horvat joined Calgary’s Sean Monahan, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Florida’s Aleksander Barkov as the only players from the 2013 draft to reach the 100-goal mark. … The teams will conclude their season series Jan. 4 at Vancouver. … Lundqvist appeared in his 861st game, moving past Hall of Famer Gump Worsley for sole possession of 11th place on the NHL’s all-time list. He is seven away from tying former goalie Grant Fuhr for 10th place. Lundqvist also tied Jean Ratelle for sixth place on the Rangers’ franchise list. … New York has given up at least one power-play goal in five of its six games.

UP NEXT

Canucks: At Detroit on Tuesday night to finish a four-game trip.

Rangers: Host Arizona on Tuesday night to continue a five-game homestand.

___

Follow Vin Cherwoo at https://twitter.com/VinCherwooAP

___

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Vin A. Cherwoo, The Associated Press