Mika Zibanejad scored twice and the New York Rangers beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Saddledome. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 29 of 30 shots to help New York move to 11-8-1 on the season.
Tye Kartye added an insurance goal with 7 seconds left in the third, sealing the result after Calgary pulled within one. Adam Klapka scored the lone goal for the Flames, who fell to 8-10-1 and have now lost 10 games this season.
Key Moments: How The Rangers Pulled Away
The game stayed scoreless through the first period before Zibanejad broke it open 59 seconds into the second, converting a wrist shot off assists from Alexis Lafreniere and Marcus Pettersson. He struck again at 10:52 of the same period, blasting a slap shot past Devin Cooley with Pavel Dorofeyev and Lafreniere drawing the assists. That gave New York a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
Calgary cut the deficit to 2-1 when Klapka scored at 7:41 of the third period on a snap shot, assisted by Ryan Strome and Yegor Sharangovich. The Flames could not find the equalizer. Kartye closed the scoring with 7 seconds left, finishing a feed from J.T. Miller to make it 3-1 in the final seconds.
Top Performers
Zibanejad finished with two goals and two points, recording his fourth and fifth goals of the season and leading all skaters in scoring for the game. Lafreniere picked up two assists. Korpisalo turned in a .967 save percentage, stopping 29 of 30 shots he faced across 60 minutes, including 27 even-strength saves and two on the penalty kill.
For Calgary, Klapka led the team with a goal and a point. Strome and Sharangovich each picked up an assist. Cooley allowed three goals on 23 shots for a .913 save percentage in a losing effort.
What It Means
The Rangers improved to 11-8-1, gaining ground in the Metropolitan Division with the win. New York outshot Calgary 24-30 in the raw shot count but converted on special teams, going 1 for 3 on the power play while limiting the Flames to 1 for 2 on theirs. The Rangers also won 56.9% of faceoffs and finished with 29 hits to Calgary’s 21.
Calgary fell to 8-10-1 and dropped to 17 points in the Pacific Division standings. The Flames held an edge in shots on goal, 30-24, and blocked 13 shots to the Rangers’ eight, but could not overcome New York’s finishing in the second period. New York leads the season series 1-0 after the win.
What’s Next
The Rangers next face the Flyers. Calgary continues its Pacific Division schedule against the Predators. recap of the Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Kraken. New York also faced Edmonton earlier this month, a matchup previewed in Total Apex Sports’ Rangers-Oilers breakdown.
Calgary will look to regroup after a Pacific Division schedule that has included a recent matchup against the Flyers, covered in Total Apex Sports’ preview of Flyers vs. Flames. Devin Cooley’s workload in net remains a storyline for Calgary as the team tries to climb out of the bottom of the Pacific Division standings.
Don't stop here
Every Score. Every Story. One Home.
Breaking sports, entertainment and news from across the Total Apex network, updated all day.
Get the Full Story →
