Rangers Vs. Coyotes Recap: Rangers Top Coyotes 4-1 With Third Period Surge

The New York Rangers continued their winning ways tonight with a three goal third period, and defeated the Arizona Coyotes by a final score of 4-1. Tonight was also a night of first's as Chris Kreider, Keith Yandle, and Rick Nash each registered their first goals of the season and helped earn the Rangers their second straight victory. Henrik Lundqvist was excellent once again tonight, and he rolled the highlight reel in the third period with a beautiful diving save on Anthony Duclair.

The first period of this game was pretty much a snooze fest with both teams only combining for 11 total shots, but the Coyotes found a way to break through on just their second shot of the game. J.T. Miller wound up committing a turnover on a horrible blind pass, and that sent Max Domi into the offensive zone with plenty of space. Domi was able to fight off Marc Staal's attempted hit along the boards and fed the puck over to Klas Dahlbeck who ripped a quick shot on net.

Lundqvist was unable to get a handle on the puck and it beat him just over the left pad to give the Coyotes their first lead of the game. Coming into the second period, the Rangers were looking to respond with a better effort, and Chris Kreider eventually knotted the game up at the halfway mark of the middle frame. Mats Zuccarello set up the entire play with an amazing cross-ice feed, and Kreider finished it off with a diving attempt to chip the puck over Mike Smith.

With the Rangers finally on the board heading into the second intermission, the Rangers came out flying in the third period and looked to make one final push. That final push wound up resulting in three unanswered goals in the third period with goals coming from Kevin Hayes, Keith Yandle, and Rick Nash. Hayes got the party started in the third period after Mike Smith coughed up the puck behind the net, and he tapped the puck into the empty net to make it a 2-1 game.

A short time later, Keith Yandle bombed a shot through traffic on the power play, and the puck wound up deflecting off of two Coyotes' defenders. Mike Smith was unable to locate the puck after the multiple deflections and the puck rolled over the goal line to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. Rick Nash closed out the scoring with a little over 40 seconds remaining, and put the nail in the coffin with an empty net goal to make it 4-1.

One funny catch with Nash's goal is that he never actually shot the puck because he was hooked on a breakaway, and that resulted in an automatic goal. The Rangers were able to hang on for the closing seconds, and defeated the Coyotes by a final score of 4-1. After previously losing three straight games, the Rangers have now won two straight and improved their record to 5-2-1 on the season.

The Rangers will be back in action this coming Saturday as they travel into the Wells Fargo Center for a meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Thoughts?