Thatcher Demko stops 23 as Canucks blank Rangers 3-0
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9:47 PM on Tuesday, December 16
By ALLAN KREDA
NEW YORK (AP) — Evander Kane and Liam Ohgren scored and Thatcher Demko made 23 saves as the league-worst Vancouver Canucks defeated the New York Rangers 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Conor Garland added an empty-net goal as Vancouver, which had won only three of its previous 12 games, smothered the Rangers from start to finish. New York is 4-10-3 at home.
Kane scored his sixth goal 1:46 into the contest, when he beat Rangers netminder Jonathan Quick after defenseman Matthew Robertson’s path was briefly blocked by a linesman.
Ohgren, acquired Friday from Minnesota in the Quinn Hughes trade, made it 2-0 at 3:24 of the second. It was Ohgren’s first goal with Vancouver. The 21-year-old Swedish forward also played 18 games without a point for the Wild this season.
Demko stopped Artemi Panarin with 4:16 left in the second to preserve the shutout, his first this season and the 10th of his career.
Garland scored shorthanded into an empty net with the Rangers with 3:08 remaining in the third.
Vancouver has only 29 points in 33 games.
The Rangers’ power play, which has struggled since defenseman Adam Fox was injured against Tampa Bay on Nov. 29, failed to convert on four chances.
The Rangers have been blanked six times and scored one goal four times in their 10 regulations loses at the Garden.
Quick made 14 saves.
New York will play seven of their next eight games on the road, including the Jan. 2 Winter Classic against the Florida Panthers in Miami.
The Rangers were coming off a 4-1 home loss to Anaheim on Monday in the return game for former Rangers Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba.
Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad returned after he was scratched against Anaheim for missing a team meeting.
The Canucks were without leading scorer Elias Pettersson (upper body) for the fifth-straight game. He was placed on injured reserve Sunday.
Canucks: Visiting New York Islanders on Friday.
Rangers: Visiting St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
