.Brendan Lemieux scored and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 28 saves for the Rangers, who were 4-0-1 in their previous five games.The Rangers went 0 for 6 on the power play against a Vegas team that came in tied for fifth in penalty-killing.New York picked up the pace in the second half of each of the first two periods and came out more aggressive to start the third. The Rangers outshot the Golden Knights 8-1 over the first 12 minutes and finished the period with a 11-4 advantage but couldn't score.Subban, getting the start while Marc-Andre Fleury is away from the team following his father's death, denied Ryan Strome's tip try nearly seven minutes into the third, Filip Chytil's shot from the left circle with 8 1/2 minutes left and Ryan Lindgren's attempt from above the left circle less than 20 seconds later.Vegas scored twice early in the first period and then doubled its lead with a pair of goals early in the second.Subban knocked turned aside a deflection by Chytil 2:10 into the second to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard, and Chris Kreider hit a goalpost exactly two minutes later.Smith made it 3-0 on a breakaway as he put a backhander past Lundqvist for his team-leading 12th at 4:44.With Vegas on its second power play of the game, rookie Cody Glass sent a pass across the front of the goal and Pacioretty quickly put it past Lundqvist for his 10th to make it 4-0 at 6:20.Lemieux deflected a pass from Jacob Trouba to get the Rangers on the board with 4:45 left in the middle period. It was his fourth of the season and third in the last six games.The Golden Knights got off to a fast start while outshooting the Rangers 13-3 over the first 10 minutes.Tuch got Vegas on the scoreboard just 1:34 in. His shot from the left side was stopped by Lundqvist but it trickled past and, as the goalie lunged back, he appeared to get the puck before it crossed the line. However, after a review, the goal counted as replays showed Lundqvist pushed it across the line before pulling it back out.The Golden Knights went on a power play 18 seconds later as Tuch drew a holding the stick penalty on Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei. Tuch then took advantage on a rush just 2 seconds before the power play expired as he drove to the net on the right side and tipped a perfect pass by Nate Schmidt under a diving Lundqvist at 3:50 to make it 2-0. It was his fourth of the season, and third in two games.Tomas Nosek beat Lundqvist with 8 1/2 minutes left in the opening period but the puck hit the crossbar.NOTES: Lundqvist appeared in his 874th game, moving past Tony Esposito (Chicago) for the second-most with one team in NHL history. Martin Brodeur (1,259 with New Jersey) tops the list. ... The Rangers went 0 for 2 on the penalty-kill after coming in 20 for 21 over their previous five games, including a stellar effort in which they were 8 for 8 while scoring two short-handed goals in a 4-0 win at New Jersey on Saturday. ... The teams conclude their two-game season series on Sunday at Las Vegas. ... Pacioretty leads Vegas with 26 points. ... The Golden Knights now have 33 goals in the first period, tying Colorado for most in the NHL - though the Avalanche have played three fewer games. ... Vegas scored on the power play for the second straight game after going 0 for 9 in the previous four.UP NEXTGolden Knights: At New Jersey on Tuesday night in the middle game of a three-game trip to the New York area.Rangers: At Columbus on Thursday night to start stretch of five of six on road.---Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwoo---More NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/-Sports)
The Vegas Golden Knights take a two-game winning streak to the East Coast where they begin a three-game road trip on Monday night against the New York Rangers.That's the good news. The bad news is Vegas, which has won two straight four different times during an up-and-down start to the season, has yet to put together a three-game winning streak.And if the playoffs were to begin on Sunday, the Golden Knights, in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Pacific Division with Vancouver and Calgary, would be on the outside looking in. However, December has been a good month for Vegas during its short history.The Golden Knights are a combined 20-4-4 and have racked up 44 points in December, including a memorable 11-1-1 run in their inaugural season in 2017-18 that ended up in the Stanley Cup finals. Vegas is one point behind third place San Jose in the Pacific heading into the month."It's a battle," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said after his team won a 2-1 shootout over second-place Arizona on Friday afternoon. "There are no bad teams in our division, (and) everybody battles." The top six teams in the Pacific Division heading into Sunday night's action were all bunched within five points of each other."There's no bad teams in the NHL, there really isn't," Gallant said. "Every team battles every night. I look at the standings one day, and we're in third or fourth place, and the next day we're in second to last, so you have to win every night to stay up in the standings. That's the way it is, and that's the way it's going to be all year along. I don't see any bad teams, and we're going to have to battle, and it's going to be right down to the wire, probably." Vegas is just 6-6-1 on the road heading into Monday's contest but started its current win streak with a 4-3 overtime victory at Nashville on Wednesday, a game the team tied on a Max Pacioretty goal with just three-tenths of a second left in regulation. Paul Stastny then potted the game-winner in overtime.The Golden Knights followed that up with a gritty 2-1 shootout win over Arizona on Friday afternoon, with Alex Tuch scoring his first goal in eight games and capping it off with the game-winner in the shootout."It's big, but going forward, we just have to worry about the next game," Tuch said. "We can't look too far ahead." New York, which will be playing its eighth game in 13 days, has won four of its last five games and comes in off a 4-0 victory over New Jersey on Saturday. The Rangers won despite taking eight penalties, including five in the second period alone, but ended up coming out on the plus side as both Mika Zibanejad and Jesper Fast scored short-handed goals."Certainly not the way you draw up winning a hockey game, taking that many penalties and having that many penalties minutes to kill," said New York coach David Quinn. "But I'm so proud of our guys. We found a way to win and really gutted it out and stood tall on our penalty kill." Alexander Georgiev finished with 33 saves for his third career shutout, and defenseman Jacob Trouba had two assists and played a key role on the penalty kill."Every game is not going to perfect," Trouba said. "That's what makes a team good, finding a way to win games." This will be the first of two meetings between the team over a seven-day span. The Rangers will kick off a four-game western road trip next Sunday in Las Vegas.--Field Level Media
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