Gets winner at 2:42 for New York; Stephenson has goal, assist for Seattle
Rangers at Kraken | Recap
SEATTLE — Will Cuylle scored at 2:42 of overtime, and the New York Rangers closed out their four-game road trip with a 3-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
Off a 2-on-1 rush, J.T. Miller passed to Cuylle, who fired a wrist shot over a sprawling Joey Daccord for the game-winning goal.
“In the third, I felt like we were pressing, lots of good chances,” Cuylle said. “We’ve always said, just try to stick with it, and it all starts in the D-zone. I thought we were really good defensively, and you’re not going to lose games if the other team can’t score that much.”
NYR@SEA: Cuylle goes under the bar for OT winner
Vladislav Gavrikov scored his first goal for the Rangers (6-5-2) after signing a seven-year, $49 million contract on July 1. Noah Laba also scored, and Igor Shesterkin had 11 saves.
“I thought tonight might have been our best [game], just as far as controlling territory, defending hard, limiting shot quantity and quality,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought it was a great effort by everybody. All four lines were involved, and I thought we had good flow.”
The Rangersm who have won three in a row, completed their four-game road trip 3-1-0 and are 6-1-1 in road games.
“We did great as a team,” Laba said. “Every line contributed, playing in their zone, pucks north, controlling the play in the O-zone, and you could kind of see it with the shots [on goal totals]. And we did a great job in the D-zone, too.”
Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken (5-2-4), who have lost their last two (0-0-2). Daccord had 24 saves.
“We don’t want to spend this much time in our zone,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “We’re battling when we do, but the first period was a classic example of what I’ve been talking about all year long. [We were] misfiring our passes… we’ve got to find a way out of our zone better.”
“Pretty low-event game. Not a ton out there,” Daccord said. “I thought we managed the way the game was going pretty well, and overtime is a coin flip with 3-on-3. So, you’re going to win some, you’re going to lose some, and it just (stinks) losing in overtime, honestly.”
Gavrikov made it 1-0 at 10:16 of the first period with a wrist shot through traffic from the left point that tipped off the shaft of Daccord’s stick and floated over his shoulder.
Stephenson tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 12:49, taking a feed from Vince Dunn in the left circle and sending a wrist shot over Shesterkin’s glove.
“We want them to shoot more,” Lambert said. “We thought we could do a better job of that, but there was a lot of battle to our game. I give our guys credit for that, for sure. It wasn’t an easy game by either team.”
NYR@SEA: Stephenson sails one in from the circle and finds twine
Laba regained a 2-1 lead for New York at 13:50, crashing the net off a rush and swatting a Cuylle rebound past Daccord’s left skate.
“It’s about experience, and the more I get, the more I feel like I’m just building my game and building my confidence,” Laba said.
It was the second career goal for the 22-year-old rookie, playing his 13th NHL game.
“[Laba’s] game just gets better right in front of us every game that he plays,” Sullivan said. “He’s just playing with so much confidence, and he’s hungry. He’s strong on pucks, I think his speed is evident… But the most impressive thing for me is just his composure.”
Montour tied it 2-2 at 6:59 of the second period, one-timing Jaden Schwartz‘s low-to-high feed over Shesterkin’s glove from the top of the right circle. Montour also had two goals and an assist in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
NOTES: Seattle forward Kaapo Kakko made his season debut. The winger missed 10 games with a broken hand sustained in preseason. Selected by the Rangers with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, Kakko played five-plus seasons for New York before being traded to Seattle on Dec. 18, 2024. … Adam Fox recorded his 379th career point and passed Brad Park for sole possession of fourth most by a Rangers defenseman.
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