NEW YORK — In the days after they somehow stole a victory over the league-leading Florida Panthers on Nov. 8, the Rangers were all too willing to admit that they hadn’t played as well as their record at the time suggested.
But the frenetic early-season schedule eased up a little after that game, and the Rangers got a day off, and three days of practice to tinker with a few things. And since then, they have won three straight, giving them a four-game winning streak.
The last of those was Tuesday night, a 3-2 win over the struggling Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden. Kaapo Kakko scored for the second straight game, Chris Kreider scored his 12th goal of the season, and Julien Gauthier scored his first goal of the season to power the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin, last seen leaving Saturday’s win over Columbus late in the third period after being run over by Columbus forward Alexandre Texier, returned to the nets for the Rangers and looked just fine, making 31 saves as the Rangers improved their record to 10-3-3.
The Rangers now head to Toronto for a single game on the road Thursday. Their scheduled game at Ottawa Saturday has been postponed because the Senators have 10 players and an assistant coach in COVID-19 protocol.
The Rangers played without forward Sammy Blais, who suffered a torn ACL in Sunday’s game against the Devils. But they welcomed back center Filip Chytil, who missed three games while on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
With Blais out and Chytil back, Rangers coach Gerard Gallant was able to move versatile forward Barclay Goodrow from the middle of the third line — where he had been filling in for Chytil — onto the right wing of the top line, with Mika Zibanejad and Kreider. That’s where Blais had been for the previous three games.
Kakko didn’t score a point in his first 10 games, but the hope was that once he got the first one, more would come, in bunches. He got his first of the season on Sunday against the Devils and he got his second in the first period Tuesday, to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 15:46. Artemi Panarin sent a pass from the outside of the right circle to Kakko in the slot, and the 20-year-old Finn redirected it past goalie Cayden Primeau, who was making his season debut.
Montreal tied the score on a goal by Christian Dvorak at 2:17 of the second period, and then the action picked up. First, enforcer Ryan Reaves got into his first fight of the season when he dropped the gloves with Canadiens rookie Michael Pezzetta. Reaves made quick work of Pezzetta and celebrated on his way to the penalty box. On the next shift. Kreider drove the net and tapped in a sweet feed from Mika Zibanejad to put the Rangers up 2-1 at 3:50.
The goal pulled Kreider into a tie with Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin for the second-most goals in the league, behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl.
Gauthier, who has been in and out of the lineup, but who may have a chance to earn regular playing time now with Blais lost for the season, scored a hustling goal to make it 3-1 at 1:56 of the third period. The French-Canadian kid, a Quebec Province native playing against the Canadiens, lifted the stick of Montreal defenseman Brett Kulak and stole the puck from him, then lifted a backhander over Primeau for the goal.
Josh Anderson got the goal back for the Canadiens just 22 seconds later, but the Rangers hung on after that.
