Rangers beat Canucks on Chris Kreider's third-period goal to earn third straight victory

VANCOUVER — The Rangers got some good news Tuesday morning when they learned that injured center Filip Chytil had not suffered a concussion after his inadvertent collision with K’Andre Miller last week and was set to rejoin the team for the last two games of the current road trip.

They’d still have to play Tuesday’s game against the Canucks without their third-line center, but having won two straight games, and squaring off with a Canucks team without No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko — out all season with a knee injury — and forward J.T. Miller, who the team announced Tuesday was taking a leave of absence from the team, for personal reasons, they had to feel pretty good about their chances.

Chris Kreider’s ninth goal of the season, with 9:17 remaining in the third period, broke a tie and the penalty kill came up big in when Vincent Trocheck took a high-sticking penalty with 6:26 left and the Rangers held on to beat the Canucks, 4-3, giving them their second victory on this four-game road trip and their third straight win overall.

“I thought as a team, we played really well,’’ said Will Cuylle, who scored his sixth goal of the season in the first period, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead at the time. “I mean, the game was close, but I thought for the majority of the game, we were controlling the play. We’re getting lots of chances and, you know, couple bounces here and there. But overall, pretty good game.’’

“I thought it was pretty steady, pretty solid,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “They’re a good team. They’re going to get some chances. They’ve got good players. I thought defensively, we were good. Offensively, we had lots of good looks, and we were pretty consistent with the whole game.’’

The trip continues with a game Thursday in Calgary against the Flames, where Chytil will reunite with the team, before concluding Saturday night in Edmonton.

Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (21 saves) was looking kind of average for much of the game, and had allowed three goals on 17 shots in the first two periods without making any eye-popping saves. He’d come into the game having lost two of his last three starts, and had allowed 12 goals on 71 shots (. 831 save percentage) in those games.

But with the Rangers (12-4-1) trying to protect a one-goal lead late in the game, Shesterkin came up big in making a save on Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk from below the left circle, with 3:20 remaining.

With the Canucks (9-6-3) playing the final game of a six-game homestand, the home team took the lead 34 seconds into the game on a goal by Quinn Hughes, the Norris Trophy winner last season and the Canucks’ captain, who stunned the Rangers when he took a pass from his defense partner, Filip Hronek, cut past a lunging Jacob Trouba and fired a backhander from the slot that beat Igor Shesterkin. It was the fourth time this season — and fourth time in the last 11 games — that the Rangers have allowed a goal in the first minute of a game.

The Rangers got the goal back quickly though, when Mika Zibanejad deflected a shot by K’Andre Miller past goalie Arturs Silovs at 2:31. And the Rangers took the lead when Will Cuylle beat Silovs with a precise shot into the top corner on a breakaway at 14:38. Kiefer Sherwood’s goal at 17:39 tied it, 2-2 going into the first intermission.

The line of Cuylle, Kaapo Kakko, and Jonny Brodzinski — filling in for Chytil for the second straight game — had a strong game, dominated their opponents in possession offensive zone time and scoring chances, and Kakko scored at 8:45 of the second to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead, jamming in a loose puck in the slot for his third goal of the season.

As well as that line was playing, coach Peter Laviolette kept giving them more and more ice time, and they kept creating chances. But Vancouver tied it again at 3, on Conor Garland’s goal at 13:02. The unfortunate defense pair on for that was on for Garland’s goal was Trouba and Ryan Lindgren, who were on for all three goals against in the first two periods.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.