Rangers 5, Canucks 2: Chris Kreider recorded his first career hat trick while Rick Nash scored for the third straight game and added two assists as New York spoiled former coach John Tortorella's return to Madison Square Garden.

Defenseman Michael Del Zotto added a power-play goal as the Rangers tallied twice with the man advantage against Vancouver's top-ranked penalty kill. Derek Stepan notched two assists and Cam Talbot turned aside 35 shots to win his sixth straight start.

After spending considerable time in Tortorella's doghouse last season, Kreider opened the scoring with 7:23 remaining in the first period. Stepan forced a turnover by Vancouver defenseman Alex Edler at the blue line and Nash absorbed a hit while feeding Kreider, who skated in and wristed the puck past Roberto Luongo (seven saves).

With Zack Kassian serving a delay-of-game penalty, the Rangers doubled the advantage just over four minutes later as defenseman Ryan McDonagh's shot from the right faceoff circle deflected off the sticks of both Nash and Kreider before sailing into the net.

Nash chased Luongo by scoring off a deflection 17 seconds into the middle period and Del Zotto beat Eddie Lack (12 saves) nearly 11 minutes later with a blast from the top of the left circle. Vancouver's David Booth scored with 4:10 remaining in the session, but Kreider deflected defenseman Anton Stralman's point shot past Lack midway through the third to complete the hat trick with his eighth career goal.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tortorella and Alain Vigneault essentially swapped coaching jobs as they both were fired in May from New York and Vancouver, respectively, before landing their current positions one month later. The MSG faithful didn't wait long to "welcome" Tortorella, derisively chanting his name after Kreider scored his second goal. ... LW Daniel Sedin scored a power-play goal late in the third period to extend his point streak to five games for the Canucks, who have dropped eight of their last 10 contests (2-5-3). ... New York C Derick Brassard, C Brad Richards and McDonagh each collected an assist to extend their respective point streaks to three games.