Zibanejad has goal, 2 assists in Rangers win against Red Wings

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves, and Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists to lift the New York Rangers to a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Shesterkin rebounded after allowing six goals on 26 shots in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday.

"He was really good," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It was a really tough game to judge him last game. I've said this before, there's times where I think we just do things that not a lot of goaltenders can do. Not a lot of goaltenders can make the saves that needed to be made last game. He might make one but when you leave four or five of them out there, there's going to be trouble coming at you. And so I was glad to see that we got better right in front of him, tightened up a little bit in front of him, but there's still work to do. Goaltenders are there to make big saves and he's really good at that. I thought he played really well tonight."

Zibanejad did not have a point in the Rangers' first two games, including being a minus-4 against Utah.

"He is one of the best players on our team and really important for us to let him get confidence because he's so important for us," Shesterkin said.

Artemi Panarin had three assists, giving him three straight multipoint games to start the season (two goals, five assists). Reilly Smith scored his first goal for the Rangers (2-0-1), and Alexis Lafreniere and Chris Kreider also scored.

"There's more we definitely could have done, but obviously [Shesterkin] was a really, really big difference in it," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "He's special."

Lalonde, referring to a report earlier this month that Shesterkin, who can become an unrestricted free agent after this season, turned down an 8-year contract offer at $11 million a year from the Rangers, said, "I can see why he turned down the 88 (million dollar contract). Good agent."

Dylan Larkinscored, and Patrick Kane had an assist for his first point of the season for the Red Wings (1-2-0), who were 0-for-4 on the power play and fell to 1-for-11 through three games. Alex Lyon made 24 saves in his first start for Detroit.

The Red Wings and Rangers play again at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

"I thought we had enough looks to win this hockey game and it just didn't go in," Larkin said. "A little bit of credit to Shesterkin. I don't think we sifted enough pucks through traffic and made second and third opportunities, but it's something to learn from and we've got these guys again on Thursday. If he's playing, we've got to remember that he struggles with second and third opportunities. Other than that, if you've got him one-on-one, he's a world-class goalie. We've got to make it hard on him."

Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 11:45 of the first period, scoring on a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Panarin.

"He say he tried bar down, but he went five-hole like usual," Panarin said. "We talked about that play before, like when I go in the middle, he kind of pulls out a little bit for a one-timer. He did that. He hit the net and it go in. Everyone happy."

Larkin tied it 1-1 at 19:58. He found space at the left hash marks and one-timed a centering pass from Justin Holl into the net with 1.2 seconds remaining on the scoreboard clock.

But the Red Wings couldn't cash in on a push in the first 15 minutes of the second period. Shesterkin made 13 saves in that stretch before Holl went to the penalty box for high sticking at 16:57 and eight seconds later, Kreider scored to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Kreider's goal at 17:05, his third in as many games, came on a netfront deflection of Zibanejad's shot-pass from the left circle.

Shesterkin kept it 2-1 with a windmill glove save on J.T. Compher's shot from in front of the net at 18:02. He stopped the last 23 shots he faced, including 14 in the second period.

Smith extended the Rangers lead to 3-1 at 4:51 of the third period. His shot from the right circle directly off Zibanejad's face-off win sailed past Lyon's blocker and inside the left post.

Zibanejad scored an empty-net goal at 18:38 for the 4-1 final.

"This is going to be a frustrating game to watch back because we did some pretty good things, underlying numbers are going to be very positive," Lalonde said. "But you put a pretty good performance like that on the road against a team like this, you've got to start looking for ways to get some points."

NOTES: Prior to the game, Detroit recalled forward Austin Watson from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League and assigned goalie Ville Husso to Grand Rapids. Watson played 4:54 in his season debut. … Panarin is the fourth player in Rangers history to have multiple points in three straight games to start a season, joining Kreider (three in 2016-17, Bernie Nicholls (three in 1990-91) and Mike McEwen (three in 1978-79). … The Rangers have points in three straight games to start a season for the first time since going 3-0-0 in 2015-16.