Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 of 30 shots and Adam Edstrom scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to lead the New York Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Vincent Trocheck also scored for New York, which improved to 4-1-1 over its last six games with its second straight win.
Mark Stone scored for Vegas, which lost back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 17 and 20 against Washington and Toronto. The Golden Knights, who lost for just the sixth time in 23 home games (17-6-0), also fell to 6-8-1 against Eastern Conference opponents.
Ilya Samsonov, who had a personal six-game winning streak snapped, finished with 24 saves.
Following a scoreless first period that saw the Rangers finish with an 12-6 edge in shots on goal, the two teams traded power-play goals in the second period.
Stone gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at the 6:16 mark when he jammed in a shot from the left side of the crease that deflected off the stick of defenseman Braden Schneider and went under Shesterkin’s left arm. It was Stone’s fourth goal in his last five games.
The Rangers tied it midway through the period when Trocheck shoveled in a backhand shot after taking Mika Zibanejad’s slap shot in the midsection in front of the crease. A hunched-over Trocheck skated immediately to the locker room after the score but returned to the game a few minutes later.
Vegas nearly took the lead again at the end of the period but Noah Hanifin’s rebound score was waived off after replays showed it came well after the clock had reached 0:00. That almost-goal came shortly after Jack Eichel’s one-timer from the left-circle caromed off the crossbar.
Edstrom then gave New York a 2-1 lead at the 5:57 mark of the third period when he redirected Jonny Brodzinski’s pass into the slot through Samsonov’s pads for his first goal in 21 games and third of the season.
Vegas had a chance to tie it late when Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen was called for hooking with 2:55 to go. The Golden Knights pulled Samsonov for an extra attacker a minute later for a 6-on-4 power-play but failed to score on three shots.
–Field Level Media
