Brodzinski scores twice in 3rd period, Rangers defeat Canucks

NEW YORK -- Jonny Brodzinski scored twice in the third period, including the go-ahead goal with 4:13 remaining, and Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves in the New York Rangers’ 5-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist against his former team, and Adam Fox had a goal and two assists for the Rangers (34-31-6), who ended a three-game losing streak.

New York was limited to one shot on goal in the first period and 12 for the game, tying its season-low (Dec. 23, a 5-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils, when it was outshot 30-12).

They are one point behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference after the Canadiens lost 5-4 to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday in a shootout. The Canadiens have two games in hand.

"We got enough," Miller said. "We executed a couple plays. We didn't have many scoring chances. We need to play better than that going forward, especially in our building. We definitely don't want to come out and have six, seven, eight shots through two [periods] or whatever it was. We'll take the points."

Dakota Joshua, Drew O'Connor and Brock Boeser scored, and Kevin Lankinen made seven saves on 11 shots for the Canucks (32-26-12), who have lost three of four (1-2-1) and fell three points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card in the Western Conference. The Blues won 4-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

Vancouver is also one point behind the Calgary Flames after the latter's 4-3 overtime victory at the New York Islanders.

The Canucks played the third period without forwards Elias Pettersson and Nils Hoglander, who didn't return to the game because of undisclosed injuries. Coach Rick Tocchet said it's doubtful either will be able to play at the New Jersey Devils on Monday, the third of a six-game road trip. He said they would likely have to recall a center from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League.

Vancouver was already playing without center Filip Chytil, who is out with an upper-body injury and is not on the road trip.

"Can't really complain too much with how we played," Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said. "I thought we competed hard, especially with two forwards down, going to 10 forwards in the third period.

“We're playing gutsy now. … Nine times out of 10 I think we walk away with that one, but in this instance we don't."

Joshua gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 11:51 of the first period, scoring off his own rebound of a shot that hit the left post.

The Canucks outshot the Rangers 11-1 in the first.

"You can't start the game like that, start a period like that," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "They were just quicker than us. They had the puck on their stick, and we were just chasing them."

Fox tied it 1-1 at 11:03 of the second period on a deflection of Braden Schneider's shot from the right point. It was the Rangers’ fourth shot on goal.

Vancouver held a 24-6 advantage in shots on goal after the second.

"Everybody after those first two periods, a little bit of yelling in the locker room, and I think we figured it out as a team," Brodzinski said. "We've just got to stop turning pucks over and shooting ourselves in the foot. After that, pucks started finding ways to go into the net."

The Rangers scored on their eighth shot of the game with Brodzinski giving them a 2-1 lead at 1:39 of the third, a one-timer from in front that he flipped in over Lankinen's glove.

O'Connor tied it 2-2 at 11:22, scoring from between the circles off his own rebound.

K'Andre Miller gave New York a 3-2 lead at 12:40. He took the puck through the left circle and whipped it to the slot, where it deflected off Hughes' left skate and into the net.

"The one off the skate is really, really lucky," Hughes said. "He just chucks one in front. I mean, I've done that plenty of times. Good play. Throw it to the net, you don't know what's going to happen."

Boeser tied it 3-3 at 15:10 by winning a puck battle against K'Andre Miller behind the net, coming around the left post and scoring with a shot under Shesterkin's glove.

But Brodzinski gave the Rangers the lead 37 seconds later, making it 4-3 at 15:47 with a shot from the left circle off a pass from Alexis Lafreniere, who had two assists.

"That's a killer rush," Tocchet said. "That's an avoidable goal."

J.T. Miller scored an empty-net goal at 19:43 for the 5-3 final.

"I liked the responses in the third period," Laviolette said. "If we scored, they scored, the game came back to even and we put it back in there again.

“Obviously, Jonny had a big third period for us too. It was nice to get responses in the third period and get the win."

NOTES: Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood had a game-high 12 hits and has 395 this season, passing Jeremy Lauzon (383 with the Boston Bruins last season) for the most in a single season since the NHL started tracking the statistic officially in 2005-06. Sherwood was minus-3 in 15:19 of ice time. … Hughes' assist on Joshua's goal was his 400th career point. He is the second Vancouver defenseman to reach 400 points with the team after Alexander Edler (409). … Rangers forward Artemi Panarin had an 11-game point streak end (16 points; eight goals, eight assists). … New York forward Brennan Othmann got his first NHL point in his 16th game with an assist on Fox's goal.