Canucks defeat Rangers for third straight win

Thatcher Demko made 31 saves for the Vancouver Canucks in a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday.

Tyler Myers and Matthew Highmore each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks (26-22-6), who have won three in a row and five of their past six games. J.T. Miller had two assists to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, nine assists).
"I think we're just playing with a lot of desperation," Highmore said. "Not that we weren't in January per se, but I think we found a little something here. Our group is growing in confidence, and we have to continue to keep it going."
Alexis Lafrenière and Ryan Strome scored in the third period for the Rangers (33-15-5), who were coming off a 1-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Alexander Georgiev made 29 saves in his first start since Jan. 27.
"At 5-on-5 we weren't playing. We looked tired. We looked sluggish on the ice," New York coach Gerard Gallant said. "We just weren't playing our game like we did the last few games, but the power play was jumping. They had some good chances, and Demko made some keys saves at key times in the first."
Tanner Pearson put Vancouver ahead 1-0 at 3:12 of the first period with a wrist shot from the high slot off a pass from Miller. The goal came 40 seconds after Demko robbed Mika Zibanejad on a backdoor pass to his left.

Demko made a similar save with 45 seconds left in the period, this time denying K'Andre Miller with a sprawling save with his right pad. On the ensuing rush, Myers made it 2-0 at 19:21 when he beat Georgiev glove side from the top of the left circle for his first goal of the season.
"It's my job to make the save, so it's not really in my control whether the guys go down and score or not," Demko said. "I've just got to take care of my job and give the team a chance, and obviously the last couple games we've scored when we needed to, at timely opportunities during the game, and today was no different."
Demko made his best saves against Chris Kreider, stopping the forward's backhand attempt as he cut across the crease at 4:33 of the first period before getting his blocker on his chance off a partial breakaway at 10:35 of the second period.
"I've run out of things to say because he's been incredible," Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. "If it wasn't for Demko early it would have been a lot different."
Juho Lammikko pushed the lead to 3-0 at 6:06 of the second with a redirection from the edge of the crease, and Highmore scored on a similar redirection late in a power play to make it 4-0 at 15:16.
It was Highmore's second multipoint game of the season and came on his 26th birthday.
"It's up there with a couple other birthday games I've had, but to be here at MSG, ultimately get the win and keep our playoff push alive is pretty cool," Highmore said.

Lafrenière made it 4-1 at 9:53 of the third period with a one-timer off a pass from Zibanejad.
Strome then scored on a rebound at 14:03 to cut it to 4-2, but Elias Pettersson shot into an empty net after Demko cleared the puck up the boards with 2:09 left for the 5-2 final.
"We got some great looks in the first, and to leave down two, it's maybe a little discouraging, but it's the National Hockey League, things can change quickly and you got to have a better response in that second period," Strome said. "Obviously, when the pucks aren't going in, it is a little bit frustrating, but I think the response has to be stay with it versus allowing two more the other way."
NOTES: New York defenseman Adam Fox had the secondary assist on Strome's goal, his 50th point (seven goals, 43 assists) in 50 games this season. It is the fewest games to reach 50 points by a Rangers defenseman since Brian Leetch did it in 44 games in 2000-01. … Rangers forward Filip Chytil was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. … Vancouver has outscored its opponents 17-5 during the three-game winning streak.