National Hockey League
Vancouver 5, NY Rangers 3
When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Referees: Gord Dwyer, Kevin Pollock
Linesmen: Devin Berg, Scott Cherrey
Attendance: 18006

NEW YORK -- On paper or any other parchment available, this was about as lopsided a mismatch the NHL could place on the schedule.

The Vancouver Canucks, losers of nine straight and the worst offensive team in the league, were visiting the New York Rangers, winners of five straight and the best offensive team in the league. Making matters worse for the Canucks, they played the night before while the Rangers had the evening off.

Since sports rarely make sense, the Canucks posted a season-high goal total and thoroughly outplayed the Rangers in a 5-3 victory Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Left winger Loui Eriksson, who had zero goals in 13 games, and left winger Alexandre Burrows, who had no goals in 10 games, both scored for the Canucks. Burrows added a second goal into an empty net with 3:06 remaining to give Vancouver (5-8-1) its first win since Oct. 20.

"It's a team game, so everyone has to chip in," Eriksson said. "I think everyone did that tonight. We knew we were playing a good team."

Ten of the Canucks' 12 forwards registered points, as left winger Sven Baertschi also scored his first goal of the season and center Henrik Sedin scored on a partial breakaway early in the third period. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 shots as his teammates stifled many of the Rangers' dangerous scoring chances.

"It's always nice to score goals and get on the scoresheet, but I thought we played the right way," Burrows said. "We did a lot of good things defensively at the lines. We pressured a really good team, a fast team. That's how you win in this game, by playing the right way on the road or at home. When you do that, sometimes you'll get the bounces."

The Rangers (10-4-0) felt they played poorly in a 5-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday. Then they fell Tuesday with their starting goaltender in the locker room during the third period.

With the game tied at 2, goaltender Antti Raanta, who made 20 saves, was forced to leave the game with 11:33 to play. Earlier in the period, he collided with Canucks forward Markus Granlund and was slow to get to his skates, which resulted in the NHL concussion spotter mandating that Raanta be examined.

With Raanta in the locker room with doctors, Henrik Lundqvist allowed two goals on six shots to turn a 2-2 tie into a 4-2 deficit.

"Those are the circumstances, and you have to deal with it," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "At the end of the day, I don't think that was the difference in the game. Our execution was nonexistent. We couldn't make a 10-foot pass, and when you execute like that, you can't pass, and you can't put your speed on display ... We didn't deserve to win today, that's it."

The Rangers briefly held the lead midway through in the second period when left winger Pavel Buchnevich -- who also had two assists -- scored his third goal in three games to make it 1-0. But Erikson responded with 4:22 remaining in the period, and Sedin scored early in the third period to put the Canucks ahead 2-1.

New York left winger Rick Nash scored his seventh goal -- and 400th of his career -- on a power play less than three minutes later tie the score, but the Canucks scored the next three goals to pull away.

"The lesson you can kind of see coming in the last three games is how much time we played in our own zone," Nash said. "We were kind of playing with fire. We knew if we didn't score the way we've been scoring that we could be in some trouble, and that happened tonight."

NOTES: Canucks RW Jannik Hansen (undisclosed injury) did not play. ... Vancouver scratched RW Jake Virtanen, D Alex Biega and D Philip Larsen. ... The Canucks conclude a six-game road trip in Detroit on Thursday. ... Rangers D Dan Girardi was back in the lineup after sitting one game to rest. ... The Rangers embark on their first multi-game road trip of the season starting Saturday. They will play four road games from Nov. 12-18. ... The Rangers scratched D Adam Clendening and C Oscar Lindberg.
Top Game Performances
 
Vancouver   NY Rangers
Alexandre Burrows 2 Points Pavel Buchnevich 3
Alexandre Burrows 2 Goals Pavel Buchnevich 1
Bo Horvat 2 Assists Pavel Buchnevich 2
N/A Power Play Goals Rick Nash 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Jacob Markstrom .885 Save Percentage Antti Raanta .909
Jacob Markstrom 23 Saves Antti Raanta 20
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Vancouver 29 5 0-2 4-5 10 39
NY Rangers 26 3 1-5 2-2 4 21
Upcoming Games
  • NY Rangers will play their next game on the road against Calgary. The Rangers have a W/L % of .600 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Vancouver will play their next game on the road against Detroit. The Canucks have a W/L % of .800 after a win and .111 after a loss.