Glenn Gawdin scored his first two career goals in his hometown as the New York Rangers used four second-period goals to beat the host Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Friday.
Gawdin, who grew up in Vancouver and played briefly with the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks, was playing his second game of the season and just the 15th of his NHL career.
Alexis Lafreniere, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Gabe Perreault also scored for New York, which has won five of its last six.
New York goaltender Dylan Garand, who also hails from Vancouver, stopped 27 of 28 shots.
Elias Pettersson scored for Vancouver while Leevi Merilainen made 26 saves as the hapless Canucks lost their seventh consecutive game and 17th in the last 18.
The game took on the form of a grudge match because it marked a homecoming of sorts for Rangers captain J.T. Miller, who finished with two assists. Miller spent six seasons in Vancouver before being traded to New York in January 2025.
Miller, who was booed throughout the game by the Vancouver fans, had some words for Pettersson as the latter skated off the ice following the Rangers’ first goal.
Pettersson opened the scoring for Vancouver at 12:13 of the first period. He got the blade of his stick on Zeev Buium’s long shot from the point. Brock Boeser got the secondary assist to record his 500th career point.
Perreault tied it at 1 with just 73 seconds left in the first period, threading a shot over the left shoulder of Merilainen from in close.
After Bjorkstrand made it 2-1 at 8:21 of the second, the Rangers scored three goals in 3:10 to blow the game open.
Gawdin took advantage of a bad clearing pass by Merilainen to score into an open net at 13:00 and make it 3-1. Lafreniere and Gawdin then scored 56 seconds apart to make it 5-1 and put the game out of reach.
–Field Level Media
