Canucks end nine-game slide with victory over Rangers
NEW YORK -- Loui Eriksson and Alexandre Burrows scored their first goals of the season to help the Vancouver Canucks snap a nine-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Burrows added an empty-net goal with 3:06 remaining.
The Canucks were in the midst of an 0-8-1 run entering the game while the Rangers had won five straight and eight of nine.
Henrik Sedin and Sven Baertschi also scored for the Canucks. Goaltender Jakob Markstrom made 23 saves.
Rick Nash, Pavel Buchnevich and Mike Zibanejad -- with 58.1 seconds remaining -- scored for the Rangers. Goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 20 of 22 shots.
Henrik Lundqvist briefly came off the bench midway through the third period while Raanta was in the locker room with an injury and allowed two goals on six shots to take the loss.
After a scoreless first period, Buchnevich scored his third goal in three games at 7:20 of the second period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The rookie slipped behind the defense, took a pass from right wing Jesper Fast, and tucked a shot through the legs of Markstrom that trickled just across the blue line for his third goal of the season.
Eriksson scored with 4:42 remaining in the second period after extended puck possession from linemates Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Daniel put the puck in front to Eriksson, who shifted to his backhand and lifted the puck over Raanta to tie the score at 1.
Eriksson, signed to a six-year, $36 million free-agent contract in the offseason, failed to score in his first 13 games.
Henrik Sedin's fifth of the season 2:29 into the third period put the Canucks on top 2-1. He just stepped out of the penalty box and was sprung for a breakaway by defenseman Erik Gudbranson and whistled a slap shot past Raanta's glove side.
Nash answered less than three minutes later with his seventh of the season on a power play. Nash was the beneficiary of a tic-tac-toe passing play from Kevin Hayes on the left side to Buchnevich on the right side to Nash at the crease for the tap-in goal.
Raanta left the game with 11:33 to play, likely as a result of a collision with the Canucks' Markus Granlund in the period that resulted in an interference penalty.
Fifty-four seconds later, Burrows tapped a loose puck near the crease past Lundqvist, who was facing his third shot after relieving Raanta. It was Burrows' first goal in 10 games this season.
Baertschi iced the game by scoring his first of the season with 6:52 left, converting a cross-crease pass from Jack Skille.
NOTES: Canucks RW Jannik Hansen (undisclosed injury) did not play. ... The Canucks 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.