Tag: new york rangers

NHL podcast Jessica Kwong: Oilers have an offense that could make them #1 in West; Will the Bruins blue line help them make a push towards the post season; plus more news

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Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers has control of the puck at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tue Dec 9, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP News)

NHL podcast Jessica Kwong:

#1 Can the Edmonton Oilers’ red-hot offense carry them to the top of the Western Conference?

#2 Will the Boston Bruins’ revamped blue line hold up through the playoff push?

#3 Is Connor Bedard poised to break franchise rookie records for the Chicago Blackhawks?

#4 Can the Vancouver Canucks maintain their surprising early-season dominance?

#5 Will the New York Rangers’ new coaching changes spark a deeper postseason run?

Jessica Kwong does the NHL podcasts every other Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Utah Mammoth game wrap:Mammoth Snaps Losing Streak with 3-2 Victory Over The Rangers

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Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) and left wing Lawson Crouse (67) celebrate their victory over the New York Rangers at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sat Nov 22, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–JJ Peterka scored his fifth goal in six games and Nick DeSimone netted the game-winner on his 31st birthday as Utah gets back on track with win over New York.

The Utah Mammoth (10-8-3) hosted the New York Rangers (10-10-2) at Delta Center on Saturday night for the second of four games on the current homestand. Both teams entered the night’s contest looking to snap losing streaks, with Utah having lost its previous four and New York having lost its previous three.

Midway through the first period, Thursday’s lone goal-scorer for the Mammoth, Nate Schmidt, put the puck on the net with the rebound tipped in by JJ Peterka for his 9th goal of the season with the additional assist to Jack McBain.

The goal was Peterka’s fifth over the past six games. That Utah lead would last a little more than 5 minutes before Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov tipped a shot from Adam Fox into the Mammoth net for his 3rd goal of the season. The period concluded with the clubs knotted up at 1-1. Jonathan Quick turned away 12 of 13 shots in the frame while Karel Vejmelka denied 11 of 12.

Eight minutes into the second period the Rangers went up 2-1 on a snap shot goal by Artemi Panarin, his 6th of the season, assisted by Vincent Trocheck and Gavrikov. At 11:15 of the period, Mammoth fans erupted in cheers believing their team had just scored, but the on ice officials did not signal for play to stop and coaches on the Utah bench waved their arms frantically and screamed for their players to get back on defense.

About 15 seconds later, with the puck now behind the Mammoth net, the goal horn sounded and play on the ice stopped. It was determined that the fans weren’t crazy and Utah captain Clayton Keller Goal had indeed scored his eighth of the season, assisted by Kailer Yamamoto tying the score at 2-2 which is how the period ended in which Quick turned away 7 of 8 Mammoth shots and Utah’s defense continued its season-long trend of limiting shots on goal by their opponents with Vejmelka turning away 2 of just 3 total shots.

At 7:32 of the third period, with Utah applying pressure around the New York net, the Rangers attempted to bat the puck out of the zone but instead found the stick of Mammoth defenseman Nick DeSimone at the top of the red circle who one-timed a slap shot through traffic and into the back of the net for his second goal of the season, unassisted, to regain the Utah lead 3-2.

Both DeSimone goals this season have come against opponents from his home state of New York. At one point near the middle of the frame, the Rangers were all over the crease as Vejmelka gave his best ninja impression to fight off the attack. With a little more than three minutes remaining, Mammoth forward Michael Carcone crashed the Rangers crease leaving Jonathan Quick keeled over inside the net.

After an extended break it was determined that Quick could remain in the game, but the damage was already done as Utah snapped its losing streak while New York extended theirs. The Mammoth improved their home record to 6-2-1, with Vejmelka stopping 20 of 22 shots on the night.

DeSimone’s goal held up as the game winner as he also celebrated his 31st birthday. When asked if it was the best birthday present he had ever received, he was torn between saying yes and ultimately wisely crediting his wife. It was the second game-winning goal in his career.

DeSimone was all smiles addressing the media in the locker room after the game. “Everyone bought in tonight. Every guy was playing out the game, and we just stuck with it for the whole night, and we got rewarded for it.” Speaking of the team gaining momentum later in the game, the defenseman added, “Each game, we have a different plan of how we want to create. We always want to get the middle or get pucks to the net and reward our forwards, or take cross-checks. We just want to get the puck there and let him get some chances.” Asked about how he stays ready for big moments, DeSimone said, “It’s my job to be ready whether I am playing or not playing. Just being in a good mood, being grateful for every day, and showing up. If I’m playing, I just try and do what I can to help.”

JJ Peterka began his interview opining on the team’s overall performance. “Good team effort throughout the whole game. Even when we went down tonight, we found a way to get back in the game and stuck to the game plan.” Regarding his team’s mindset and goals for the game, he remarked, “Competing harder. That was the message over the last couple of days. We got a little away from that over the last couple of games, and I think today we did a much better job of getting to the shooting line and getting second chances. That gave us a win.” The German forward praised Karel Vejmelka’s performance in the net, saying “Super consistent game. Huge saves. In the third, with four or five rebounds, it kept us in the game the whole game, and we did our job on the other side.” Peterka added, “Keeping it simple was the message for the game. It turned out to be good. Just a lot of pucks to the net and a lot of second efforts to the net. That won us the game.”

Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny was in high spirits as he entered the media room. “Saturday night. The Rangers. Two points. What a beautiful night in Utah, huh?” Tourigny continued, “I cannot be more proud of the battle level, the way we drove the net, the way we moved the puck quickly and we won battles forward. There’s a lot of guys I’m proud of, a lot of guys. There’s a lot of guys who could have, and should have been on the ice in the last minute of play. Hard to pick, but I had to pick guys, but it was fun to coach that game.” With regard to momentum swings, the coach said, “We had a tough shift in the third where we turned it over, and then Cool’s (Logan Cooley) line went on the inside, and we talked on the bench about momentum and how to get the momentum back. And not just by their decision, but they scored a goal on top of playing the right way on that shift. So that was good, and we need to give credit to Vej (Karel Vejmelka), because that key moment, like you just mentioned, he made a key save.” He concluded, “what we could control, we did it with pride, with intensity, with focus, and with determination. So it’s good, I’m happy about the way we play, but at the same time, it’s midnight rules, great, celebrate, good job. But it doesn’t mean anything anymore, we just have two more points. We need to be ready for the next game in front of our fans against Vegas, and have a bounce back game.”

Utah’s Thursday night opponent, the Vegas Golden Knights, return to Delta Center again on Monday for the 3rd game of 4 on the current homestand.

Utah Mammoth game wrap: Golden Knights Spear Mammoth 4-1

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Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) shoots into an open net while four Utah Mammoth defensemen and a goaltender look on at the Delta Center on Thu Nov 20, 2025 (AP News photo)

Utah snaps overtime loss streak with regulation loss to the Vegas Golden Knights

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–It took 18 games of the 2025-2026 season for the Utah Mammoth to suffer its first overtime loss, 3-2 against the New York Islanders last week at home. The Mammoth were less than five seconds away from victory in Anaheim on Monday when Troy Terry found the back of the net to force overtime, and Olen Zellweger scored in overtime for a 3-2 Ducks win.

The next day in San Jose, Macklin Celebrini scored twice in the first six minutes to put Utah in a hole which JJ Peterka dug them out of with two goals of his own in the third period. With the Mammoth on the penalty kill due to a too many men on the ice penalty,

Celebrini would celebrate a game-winning hat trick to hand the Mammoth its third consecutive 3-2 overtime loss. It was Utah’s 8th loss in the past ten games, with both victories coming at the expense of the Buffalo Sabres home and away.

Utah (10-7-3) returned to Delta Center on Thursday to open a four-game homestand against the Vegas Golden Knights (9-4-6). The first period saw a lot of action but no scoring as Akira Schmid turned away all 9 Mammoth shots while Karel Vejmelka kept Vegas off the scoreboard stopping all seven of their attempts.

Jack Eichel opened the scoring for the Golden Knights at 3:09 of an action packed second period with his 9th goal of the season, assisted by Pavel Dorofeyev and Shea Theodore, just moments after the conclusion of a full two-minute 4-on-4 which felt more like a Vegas power play as the Golden Knights offense swarmed the Utah net for nearly its entirety.

19 seconds later, Ben Hutton netted his second of the year, assisted by Cole Reinhardt, to give the Vegas a 2-0 lead. At 6:16 of the period both teams dropped their gloves in a brawl in front of the Utah net which involved everyone but the goalies.

When the dust settled, Reinhard and Kaedan Karczak were charged with roughing penalties for the Golden Knights, while Mikhail Sergachev and Logan Cooley each received roughing penalties for the Mammoth.

Cooley was assessed two separate roughing penalties in the scrum, but got his money’s worth at the expense of Karczak’s face. 11 seconds later the Mammoth went on the power play when Braeden Bowman was whistled for interference against Ian Cole, and eleven seconds into the man advantage Utah’s Nate Schmidt cut the deficit in half with his first Mammoth goal, assisted by Ian Cole and Clayton Keller. At 16:51 Jack Eichel regained the two-goal Vegas lead with his tenth of the season, assisted by Bowman and Theodore.

Less than a minute into the third period, Braeden Bowman tipped in a shot by Jack Eichel for his 3rd goal of the season, padding the Vegas lead at 4-1 where it would remain until the final buzzer. Throughout the period Utah came across as outmatched on both ends of the ice.

Every flash of offensive opportunity fizzled with broken up passes and routine stops by Akira Schmid. The Mammoth squad which dazzled during its seventh-game winning streak, impressing to the point of reaching second on The Athletic’s Power Rankings, have now dropped 9 of their last 11 while falling to sixth place in the Central Division standings.

Captain Clayton Keller expressed frustration in the losing locker room. “I think it was a pretty emotional game. Maybe we didn’t get some calls that we should have, or there were some weird ones, but that’s part of the game, and those are things that we have to be able to tune out and get back to our game quickly. Whether it goes our way or doesn’t. So I think that’s something that we can take from the game for sure.” Keller continued, “You know that there’s going to be adversity. It’s a long season, it’s hard, it’s the best league in the world and I think our group has continued to stay motivated and confident, while still going through tough stretches. When there’s something that we want to attack and get better at, we address it and respond right away. So tomorrow we will have a good practice. We’ll break down the game tonight, talk about it, figure out how we can be better. That’s the good thing about, sometimes losing is that’s when you learn the most about your team and yourself and it makes it even that much better when things do go your way and you kind of get out of it.”

Utah Mammoth Head Coach André Tourigny opened his post-game remarks by saying, “I obviously did not like the way we responded to the emotion of the game. We had a good first period, then we arrived in the second, and stuff happened to Stenny (Kevin Stenlund). I didn’t like the way we reacted to it at first. We got emotional and got out of our game. They took over, and it was difficult for us to get back at it. That was disappointing. We got a push in the third, but it’s clear we cannot have five-minute, two-minute, a few shifts where we lose our focus like that, and that costs us dearly.” Tourigny added, “Adversity and frustration are part of the game. We cannot lose our focus like that because of a call, a goal, a hit, or whatever. We can’t lose our temper and start running around. Vegas is a good team, and as soon as we started to run around, they made us pay for it. We need to learn from that. There are other things we need to do better in our 5-on-5 games. We need to play way faster, move the puck faster, and be more predictable with each other. It comes from a good place, from the player; they want to do more and do great. But, often less is more. We need to make sure we play with a lot of pace and play fast. That means moving the puck, moving the puck into space, and skating, support, and those kinds of things. We will address that, but the emotion thing is a big deal.”

Utah (10-8-3) will attempt to turn things around Saturday against the New York Rangers (10-10-2) who are currently in last place in the Metropolitan Division.

Sharks 6 game skid comes to an end with 6-5 win over Rangers at MSG

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The New York Rangers Will Cullye (left) and the San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini (right) jockey for position in first period action at Madison Square Garden in New York on Thu Oct 23, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK, NY. — The San Jose Sharks (1-4-2) captured their first victory of the season, 6-5 in overtime, against the New York Rangers (3-4-2) on a thrilling Thursday night at “The World’s Most Famous Arena”.

It was an especially special night at Madison Square Garden for Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, who got a hat trick.

“MSG, it’s a pretty cool rink, we only get to come here once a year and it was great to get the first one,” he said.

The Sharks entered the famed arena with great expectations and pressure to earn their first win, and it was a relief for the team to get the job done.

“Obviously it’s nice to get the result and that’s the biggest thing,” said Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky.

“Again we’re playing some pretty good hockey, you know, we were going toe-to-toe with one of the better teams in the league and cred to the group. You know, we just kept playing an d even the last week here with the losses, the guys show up with great attitudes, they’re coachable, they’re working hard to get better individually and collectively.”

Sharks right wing Adam Gaudette made a snap shot assisted by right wing Collin Graf and center Michael Misa at 1:58 into the first period, putting San Jose up 1-0. Then Celebrini made a power play goal at 6:17 assisted by left wing William Eklund and defenseman Dmitry Orlov to boost the lead to 2-0.

The Rangers fought back and right wing Taylor Raddysh made a wrist shot at 14:19 assisted by right wing Sam Carrick and defenseman Carson Soucy to cut the Sharks’ lead to 2-1.

But Celebrini struck again with nine seconds left in the period, making a wrist shot assisted by center Will Smith and Eklund to expand San Jose’s lead to 3-1.

In the second period, center Mika Zibanejad made a power play goal assisted by left wing Alexis Lafrenière and center J.T. Miller at 4:04 to put the Rangers within one. Center Juuso Parssinen made a wrist shot assisted by left wing Conor Sheary at 6:47 to tie the game at 3-3. Then Raddysh made an unassisted shorthanded goal at 12:10 to give the Rangers their first lead of the game.

The Sharks avoided a scoreless period as Celebrini made a wrist shot assisted by Smith and Orlov with six seconds left to tie it at 4-4, and earned his third goal of the game.

Celebrini said of the pass from Smith: “I mean, I think that’s what he does best, he’s a pretty special player and I think you’ve seen him before the kind of plays he’s able to make. I was just on the receiving end on a couple of those.”

In the third period, Smith made a wrist shot assisted by Eklund and Celebrini at 6:31 to allow the Sharks to retake a 5-4 lead.

Raddysh answered back with a slap shot assisted by Miller and defenseman Adam Fox at 11:50 to tie it at 5-5.

The game went into overtime – and crunch time for the Sharks. Smith made a slap shot assisted by Celebrini and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic at 1:38 to lead San Jose to their much-needed first win.

Smith said of the goal: “Yeah it was all back I think, made a great play there around the corner and stripped again and found the slot.”

He added that it “feels good”.

“It has been a tough six games where we could have had a couple of W’s,” he said, “But everything happens for a reason.”

The Sharks (1-4-2) continue their road trip against the New Jersey Devils who are on a six-game winning streak (6-1-0) at Prudential Center on Friday. The puck drops at 4 p.m. PT.

San Jose Sharks report: Sharks get ready for Rangers with morning skate at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers

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San Jose Sharks take practice at the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in New York. The Sharks take on the New York Rangers Thu Oct 23, 2025 at Madison Square Garden (photo by Jessica Kwong)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK, NY. — Following their 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders, the San Jose Sharks had a practice on Wednesday afternoon at Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in New York City with select players and a couple of assistant coaches.

The Sharks (0-4-2) are still seeking their first win of the season, and aiming to notch it against the New York Rangers (3-4-1) at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

Among the players who went to the practice at the scenic rink overlooking the Hudson River was Michael Misa, the 18-year-old second-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Misa said he has been working on puck protection, moving his feet quickly, trying to get around defenders, shooting and faceoffs.

“I feel like I have the speed to play, like I feel like I look comfortable out there, it’s just a matter of getting the puck on my stick and making plays… I’m feeling better each game,” he said.

“When I use my body in the corners, projected the puck and stuff, I think yeah I’ve been making some good plays and you know our line was plugged in for the most part in the last game so just going to try to build off of that.”

The players took in and appreciated the experience of practicing at Sky Rink.

“It’s actually a pretty cool rink, like the view behind it is pretty cool with some boats out there on the harbor. But yeah, it’s always cool if you can get that minor hockey rink kind of feeling again,” said Misa.

Defenseman Sam Dickinson echoed that sentiment.

“First time walking into a rink like this, I think when we pull off the bus, right away, we’re on the harbor and looking at boats on the water and it doesn’t really make sense for a rink to be there but you know it’s a pretty cool,” he said.

With the rest of Thursday off before back-to-back games against the Rangers and the New Jersey Devils, some of the players made plans to explore and enjoy the Big Apple.

It was the first time in New York City for both Dickinson and Misa.

“I think today would be a good day to kind of go to the city a little bit,” said Misa, who didn’t have any particular places or restaurants on his list.

“I’m just going to maybe grab a couple of the guys and figure it out.”

Dickinson said some spots he plans to hit are Times Square and the Empire State Building.

“This is my first time, so I guess today is my time for exploring,” he said.

The Sharks face the Rangers at 4 p.m. PT on Thursday at MSG.

Panarin and Fox each score twice for Rangers in 6-1 win over Sharks

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San Jose Sharks goaltender Alexander Georgiev (40) blocks a shot in front of San Jose Sharks’ Timothy Liljegren (37) against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

By Daniel Dullum

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Antemi Panarin and Adam Fox each scored twice for New York Saturday at SAP Center, as the Rangers defeated the San Jose Sharks 6-1.

Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 21 of 22 Sharks shots to get the win.

The Rangers (35-32-7) opened the scoring at 12:04 of the first period on Panarin’s 32nd goal of the season, assisted by Braden Schneider and Uhro Vaakannainen.

Panarin scored again at 13:58, his 33rd tally of the season New York took a 3-0 assisted by Will Borgen and Vincent Trocheck, giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead after one period.

New York took a 3-0 lead at 4:48 of the second period on Fox’s eighth goal of the season. Brennan Othmann had one assist and Mika Zibnejad collected his 35th helper.

The Rangers extended their lead to 6-0 in the third period on goals by Jonny Brodzinski (3:08), Fox’s ninth tally of the season (5:47) and Trocheck (16:53).

San Jose found the net at 17:46 when Cameron Lund notched his second goal of the season on the power play. Collin Graf and Will Smith picked up the assists.

Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves on 33 shots on goal for the Sharks (20-43-9). San Jose was 1-4 on the power play.

The Sharks travel to Los Angeles for a Sunday night game against the Kings.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa: Sharks take on visiting Rangers Saturday night at SAP

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San Jose Sharks center Tyler Toffoli (73) exclaims his excitement after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Mar 27, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1  San Jose Sharks Tyler Toffoili scored two goals as the Sharks defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs at SAP Center on Thursday 6-5 in a shootout.

#2 The Sharks had a 5-3 lead but the Leafs scored two goals in the third period to tie up the game 5-5 and force a shootout. The Leafs came close to closing this game but lost in a narrow contest.

#3 The Sharks Colin Graf, Alexnder Wennberg, and William Eklund each scored a goal. The Sharks had the lead 5-3 with just a minute left in the game when the Maple Leafs closed in within a goal. The Sharks were thankful that Graf, Wennberg and Eklund all contributed because the outcome could have been much different.

#4 Sharks Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini scored during the shootout stanza and goaltender Alex Georgiev saved 30 shots and prevented the Leafs Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner from scoring and passing the Sharks for the win.

#5 Of late the Sharks have found themselves winning their last two games with wins over the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. The Sharks host the New York Rangers Saturday night at SAP Center. The Rangers are fifth place two games over .500 at 32-30, they are struggling of late losing six of their last ten games, taking that in consideration how do you see this match up Saturday night?

Mary Lisa does the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Bruins blank Senators 2-0 behind Korpisalo’s shutout; Red Wings get a jump on Habs in 4-2 win; plus more news

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The Boston Bruins left winter Brad Marchand (63) takes a poke at the puck in an attempt to score on the Ottawa Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg (31) in the third period at TD Garden in Boston on Thu Jan 23, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Boston Bruins took care of business shutting out the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday night. The Bruins and Sens didn’t score in the first period but the Bruins got single goals in the second and third periods. Bruins Morgan Geekie (13) score in the second period at 2:06 and David Pastrnak (23) at 19:55 in the third period in the 2-0 win. Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 29 Ottawa shots for the shutout.

#2 The Detroit Red Wings won a two goal game over the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 at Little Caesars Palace in Detroit on Thursday. The Red Wings Jonatan Berggren (8) scored the game’s first goal in the first period at 13:00. The Wings scored a second goal at 19:56 in the first period by Alex DeBrincat (20) to go up 2-0. Second period Andrew Copp (9) at 4:25 and Dylan Larkin (21) at 7:50 both scored. The Wings came away with a 4- 2 lead after two periods. Neither team scored in the third period.

#3 The New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller scored a goal and had an assist. The Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin stopped 35 shots in the Rangers convincing win over the Flyers 6-1 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

#4 The Carolina Hurricane put away the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4 at the Lenovo Center in Columbus. The Canes Seth Jarvis scored two goals and had two assists. Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists, as the Hurricanes scored five goals in the second period and came away with a three goal win.

#5 The Minnesota Wild who are 28-16-4 took a rather shocking defeat 4-0 to the Utah Hockey Club (21-19-7) at the Target Center in Minneapolis on Thursday. Utah’s Barrett Hayton scored two goals, Lawson Crousse, and Clayton Keller scored a goal each in the win. Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped all 26 Minnesota shots for the shutout.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Utah HC Surrenders 3 Goals In The Third In 5-3 Loss To Rangers

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New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) takes the puck against the Utah Hockey Club’s center Clayton Keller (9) in the first period at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Jan 18, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah loses 5-3 in back-to-back games as home struggles persist.

The Utah Hockey Club welcomed the New York Rangers to Delta Center on Thursday night for their second matchup of the season. Utah previously defeated the Rangers in New York 6-5 in overtime last October.

Mattias Maccelli lit the lamp just 61 seconds into the game for his 6th of the season, assisted by Barrett Hayton and Ian Cole, to give Utah the early lead. Artemi Panarin netted his 18th of the season just a couple of minutes later to tie things up for the Rangers, assisted by Alexis Lafreniere. At 8:12 of the first it was Maccelli again, crashing the net to knock in a rebound for his 7th goal, assisted by Barrett Hayton and Mikhail Sergachev, to put Utah up 2-1. With just a few minutes remaining in the opening frame, New York forward Arthur Kaliyev evened things up again at 2-2 with his first goal in a Rangers uniform since coming to the Empire State from the Kings.

Utah opened the second period on the power play, courtesy of a high-sticking penalty to Arthur Kaliyev late in the first. Less than a minute into the period, Logan Cooley one-timed a perfect pass from captain Clayton Keller for his 13th goal of the season with the additional assist going to Nick Schmaltz, giving Utah its third one-goal lead of the game. New York threatened to even things up once again during a 74-second 5-on-3 power play, but goatender Karel Vejmelka and his defense held the Rangers off and finished the period holding on to a 3-2 edge.

A cross-checking penalty to Alexis Lafrenière at the end of the second period gave Utah another opportunity to begin a new period on the power play. This time, however, it was New York converting a short-handed goal by Reilly Smith to tie things up once again at 3-3. Midway through the frame, the Rangers gave Utah fans another case of déjà vu all over again when Chris Kreider put New York up 4-3 with his 14th goal of the season, assisted by Sam Carrick. With Vejmelka pulled for an extra attacker, Artemi Panarin scored his 19th of the season into an empty net to put the game away 5-3.

The loss is Utah’s 7th of their last 8 at home where they have won just 6 out of 21 games this season.

After the game, Utah Hockey Club head coach André Tourigny said, “I think that we did a lot of good things, to be honest. I’m disappointed; it’s another loss by one shot. I think that we played really good again in the first half of the game. I didn’t mind the way we played in the second half–don’t get me wrong. Against Montreal, I didn’t like some stuff…Same thing against the Islanders. Not tonight. I think we played hard. The way they scored their two goals in the third period–those things will happen, but I think we deserved better tonight.” When asked about not letting frustration boil over, Tourigny responded, “It does boil. That’s why I’m proud of the guys today–because we approached that game with an unbelievable mindset. They were tuned in, their body language was good, they were positive, they were picking up each other, we worked hard. I said before (that) the other team is a factor in the game. That’s a good team. At some point, whatever or how good you play, they will make good plays. The puck will bounce over your stick…something will happen. They will have good times on the other side. Even in those moments, we battled hard (and) we played well. A broken stick in our zone; there was no panic, we defended well, we kept them on the outside (and) they could not get anything going. I loved the approach. I loved the resilience of the guys. I loved the fight. I’m so disappointed for the players first, for everybody, for the team. But it’s frustrating to see not getting (rewarded) for playing well.”

Utah returns to the ice for their sixth game of the homestand on Saturday at 7:00pm against the St. Louis Blues. Utah won their previous matchup 4-2 in St. Louis in November.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Slavin gets game winning goal for Hurricane; Rangers Quick stops 32 shots to edge Bruins 2-1; plus more news

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The Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (20) and Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) scuffle as linesman Tommy Hughes tries to break it up in the second period at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Jaccob Slavin got the game winning goal for the Carolina Hurricane in the third period at 7:30 to break a 1-1 tie which the Hurricane won by a final score of 3-1.Slavin’s wasn’t without a battle as there was a pile up in front of the net as the Hurricane’s Jesperi Kotaniemi slid into Florida Panther goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky who was down at the crease in front of the net when Slavin made a rebound shot from the left circle for the goal.

#2 The New York Rangers edged the Boston Bruins 2-1 at Madison Square Garden. The Ranger goaltender Jonathan Quick was able to stop 32 shots and the Rangers snapped a four game losing streak. It was career win 399 for Quick and it was Quick’s first win since Nov 30th. If Quick wins his next game he will pick up his 400th win and become the first US born goalie to win 400 games.

#3 The Washington Capital Alexander Ovechkin scored his career 871st goal. Ovechkin needs just 24 more goals to catch Wayne Gretzky to become the number one goal scorer of all time. In spite of Ovechkin’s goal the Capitals lost in a shootout to the Minnesota Wild when Matt Boldy scored the game winner as the Wild took a 4-3 win.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings Jonatan Berggren scored a game winning goal with 36 seconds left in the third period to edge the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Thursday night. The win improves the Wings win streak to three games. Alex DeBrincat scored and had two goals to contribute to the Red Wings cause.

#5 The Toronto Maple Leafs Bobby McMann scored twice as the Leafs defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in New York. The Leafs Joseph Woll stopped 32 shots. The win marks the second time in a week the Leafs have defeated the Isles and the Leafs have now won three times in four games against the Islanders.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com