Zibanejad, Rangers rout Flyers
Mika Zibanejad had three goals and three assists in New York’s seven-goal second period, and the Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 9-0 Wednesday night.
Pavel Buchnevich had two goals and two assists — all in the second period — and Brendan Lemieux, Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba and Filip Chytil also scored in the Rangers’ most decisive victory since beating New Jersey 9-0 on March 31, 1986. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 26 shots for his sixth career shutout.
The Rangers were without head coach David Quinn and assistants Jacques Martin, David Oliver and Greg Brown were due to NHL COVID-19 protocols. Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch and associate head coach Gord Murphy, and Rangers associate general manager Chris Drury were behind the bench.
Brian Elliott started in goal for Philadelphia and allowed five goals on 13 shots before being replaced midway through the second period as the Flyers lost for the third time in four games.
Zibanejad scored three consecutive goals in a 10:10 span of the second for his fifth career hat trick. The Swedish center also topped 400 career points.
Zibanejad converted a short-handed breakaway at 8:27 on the first shot Carter Hart saw in relief of Elliott. Panarin found Zibanejad dashing through the offensive zone on the power play before Zibanejad lifted the puck over Hart’s glove with 5:31 left in the period. Zibanejad completed the natural hat trick with an even-strength goal at with 1:23 remaining to make it 8-0.
Both of Buchnevich’s goals came early in the second to extend the Rangers’ lead to 4-0 and key the big period. The Russian winger fired a shot from the slot after Zibanejad created a turnover behind the Flyers net at 1:38. Two minutes later, Buchnevich was the beneficiary of an odd bounce off Flyers defenseman Philippe Myers.
Lemieux opened the scoring at 7:05 of the first. Adam Fox, back after a one-game absence due to COVID-19 protocol, made a nifty move at the blue line and delivered a cross-ice pass to set up Lemieux.
Canucks 3, Senators 2 — Adam Gaudette scored in a shootout to give the Vancouver Canucks a victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, Brock Boeser also scored in regulation and Thatcher Demko made 30 saves for Vancouver.
The Canucks have won three straight — also beating Ottawa 3-2 in overtime Monday night — and six of seven to improve to 15-16-3.
Ryan Dzingel and Josh Norris scored for the Senators. They lost goaltender Joey Daccord to an injury in the third period.
Daccord, who had his first NHL victory Sunday against Toronto, left at 5:07 of the third period. He appeared to twist a knee when he went down in the net, and grimaced while being helped off the ice. Filip Gustavsson took over for his NHL debut.
Boeser opened the scoring at 2:29 of the first with his 15th of the season, and Horvat added his 13th on a 2-on-1 tap-in at 8:26 of the period. Dzingel drew Ottawa within a goal three minutes into the second, and Norris tied it at 5:34 of the third.