Motte scores twice in 11 seconds in Canucks win against Rangers

VANCOUVER --Tyler Motte scored twice in 11 seconds to help the Vancouver Canucks defeat the New York Rangers 4-1 at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Motte scored on a breakaway at 9:34 of the second period to make it 2-0, and again on a slap shot through a scramble at the top of the crease at 9:45 to extend the lead to 3-0. It was his first multigoal game in the NHL.
"I was just happy to get two chances," said Motte, who had gone 17 games without a point. "My game is pretty simple: be competitive, be hard working, be physical, be responsible in the D-zone. And I've been able to chip in a little bit offensively. That's not the bread-and-butter of my game, but it's nice to do it."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Canucks highlights]
Brock Boeser and Jake Virtanen also scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves for the Canucks (29-32-9), who won in regulation for the second time in 18 games (5-10-3, with one OT win, two shootout wins).
Vancouver is eight points behind the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"We talked about responding and I thought we did that," said Markstrom, who was pulled from his last start. "It was a really good game for us through 60 minutes."

Pavel Buchnevich scored, and Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves for the Rangers (28-29-13), who have one win in nine games (1-3-5) and are 12 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.
New York was called for two five-minute major penalties in the second period that changed the game.
Boeser made it 1-0 at 6:07 on a power play after Rangers forward Chris Kreider was given a major penalty and game misconduct for elbowing Canucks rookie forward Elias Pettersson. Boeser got a cross-ice, backhand pass from Josh Leivo and scored his 23rd goal of the season on a quick wrist shot from inside the left face-off dot.
"First period was really strong but then we had a stretch in the second period that it just changed the whole game for a while, that many penalty minutes," Lundqvist said. "It also changed a little bit the way we played. I thought we started forcing things, we had a lot of turnovers in the middle that cost us."

Motte cut across the crease and tucked a backhand past the outstretched skate of Lundqvist for his first goal. Teammate Antoine Roussel sustained a season-ending knee injury on Motte's second goal when hit by Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux, who was given a match penalty.
Roussel was stopped by Lundqvist in tight and stumbled into a hit by Lemieux at the side of the crease, with his right leg caught underneath him. The rebound went to Motte between the top of the face-off circles and he one-timed it past Lundqvist's blocker.
"You lose two forwards and are completely out of synch and you kill 12 minutes of penalties in that period and it's really an incredible disadvantage," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "It just completely unraveled."
New York failed to record a shot on a 5-on-3 for 1:33 early in the third period but Buchnevich scored on a one-timer in the slot on a power play to make it 3-1 at 10:28.
Virtanen, playing his 200th NHL game, scored into an empty net with 25 seconds left for the 4-1 final.

They said it

"The second and third goals are complete gifts, and then we get a 5-on-3 and we don't get a threatening shot, so we can talk about the penalties all we want but the things we have to get better at and the things we have to stop doing are things of that nature. You can't gift-wrap goals, you have to make people earn them." -- Rangers coach David Quinn
"That was a turning point in the game. It started to give us momentum and we got a couple of quick ones." -- Canucks forward Brock Boeser on his power-play goal

Need to know

Canucks coach Travis Green said defenseman Quinn Hughes, who signed his three-year entry level contract Sunday after his season at the University of Michigan ended, is in a walking boot and will be out at least a week with a "pretty good" bone bruise. Hughes, the No. 7 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, was injured blocking a shot Friday but played Saturday before having an MRI on Wednesday morning after arriving in Vancouver. "I'd have liked to see him in sooner and he still might play. We'll see how he is next week," Green said. … Motte's two goals were the second fastest in Canucks history. Gerry O'Flaherty scored two goals in nine seconds on March 15, 1974 in a 3-0 win against the Atlanta Flames. … Canucks forward Loui Eriksson was a healthy scratch for the first time since signing a six-year, $36 million contract July 1, 2016. Eriksson has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in 69 games this season. … Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev was plus-2 in 19:01 after missing 11 games with an ankle injury.

What's next

Rangers: At the Calgary Flames on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNW, MSG 2, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the New Jersey Devils on Friday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, MSG+, NHL.TV)