Zibanejad scores twice, Rangers defeat Flames

CALGARY -- Mika Zibanejad scored twice, and the New York Rangers held on for a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

Zibanejad has a four-game point streak (two goals, four assists) but had gone seven games without a goal since Oct. 22. 

“Obviously, it’s nice to be able to contribute, but this one feels good to get the two points for the win,” said Zibanejad. “I feel like every time we come in here, it’s always a tough game. It doesn’t matter what kind of team they have and what position they’re in. It’s a tough building to come into. Obviously, it being the last game here is special.”

Said New York coach Mike Sullivan: “He can really shoot the puck. I’m happy for him. He’s an important player for us and he’s a real good hockey player. He’s one of our better goal-scorers and we’d like to see him shoot the puck and think more shot first.”

Alexis Lafreniere had two assists for the Rangers (11-8-1), who bounced back from a 3-1 loss at the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves.

“This group, they’re a fun group to coach because they compete all the time,” Sullivan said. “I just love our competitive spirit. I think we’re getting better in these tight games and not trying to play on our heels or sit on the lead, so to speak, just trying to play more aggressively and just doing it in a responsible way.”

Korpisalo got his second straight win since being activated off injured reserve on Nov. 6 after playing one game for Hartford of the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint for a lower-body injury.

“I saw the puck all night,” Korpisalo said, while giving credit to his defensemen. “It’s fun to play behind them. The guys are helping me a lot. I think there’s still some things I need to clean up in my game, but I’m happy to be winning.”

Adam Klapka scored for the Flames (8-10-1), who finished their three-game homestand 1-1-1. Devin Cooley made 21 saves.

“I thought we had a really good first and third,” Flames forward Ryan Strome said. “The second kind of killed us a little bit and that was the theme the other night, too. We’ve got to find a way to have a complete 60. 

“It’s something that we can learn from. I thought the pushback was great in the third. They’re a tight-checking team. We knew that going in, that it was going to be not a lot of space out there. I think that was the case tonight.”

After dropping his stick, Korpisalo scrambled to make a save with the open hand of his blocker at 3:41 of the first period to stop a wraparound attempt by Zayne Parekh. From his position on the right point, Parekh skated past Eeli Tolvanen before deking around Glenn Gawdin to set up his opportunity.

“That was a heck of a play by him,” Korpisalo said. “He got me swimming, and it’s just straight desperation. I dropped my stick to get leverage to get my blocker there and I got lucky.”

Zibanejad scored 59 seconds into the second period to make it 1-0 when skated around Flames defenseman Joel Hanley and behind the goal line before banking the puck off Cooley’s right leg and in.

“I tried to bank it off of him,” Zibanejad said. “I felt like he came out. He left the post, I guess. I just tried to put it in there hoping that he backs into it and luckily it worked this time.”

Zibanejad extended New York’s lead to 2-0 on the power play, taking a cross-ice pass from Pavel Dorofeyev and one-timing a shot just above the left face-off dot under Cooley’s left arm.

Klapka scored a power-play goal at 7:41 of the third period to make it 2-1. Strome took a pass from Yegor Sharangovich below the goal line and quickly sent the puck out front of the net to Klapka, who tapped it through Korpisalo’s legs.

“He’s one of our guys that goes to the net pretty consistently, so that’s the reason why he’s been there,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said of Klapka. “The other reason is his play’s been consistent all year.”

Tye Kartye scored into an empty net at 19:53 for the 3-1 final.

This is the final year the Flames will play at the Saddledome, and Zibanejad said he’ll miss playing at the arena where he scored the overtime game-winning goal to lead Sweden to a 1-0 win over Russia in the gold-medal game of the 2012 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship. 

“It’s one of the best moments of my hockey career,” Zibanejad recalled. “It’s something that I’ll always be happy with, obviously, and something that’s always going to tie me to this rink in Calgary.”

NOTES: Zibanejad recorded his 19th multigoal period with the Rangers and tied Steve Vickers for the second most in franchise history behiond Rod Gilbert (26). … Zibanejad had his 43rd multigoal game with the Rangers to tie Andy Bathgate for the fifth most in franchise history. Bill Cook (46) is fourth. … Flames forward Joel Farabee’s home goal streak ended at six games.