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Rangers fend off Flames 3-1 to win final visit to Saddledome
Rangers fend off Flames 3-1 to win final visit to Saddledome
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Rangers bade farewell to Scotiabank Saddledome by continuing their solid play on a four-game swing through the Pacific Northwest with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.

Mika Zibanejad scored twice in the second period, Tye Kartye put the game away with an empty-netter and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves for his second victory in as many games with the Rangers after returning from a foot injury.

Alexis Lafreniere assisted on both of Zibanejad’s goals as the Rangers won for just the 10th time (10-21-2 with four ties) in their 37 visits to the Saddledome since it opened in 1983. The Flames will move into the new Scotia Place next season.

New York (11-8-1) improved to 11-1-0 when scoring first. The Rangers are 2-1-0 heading into the final game of their trips against the NHL’s worst team, the Vancouver Canucks (3-16-1), on Friday.

Alan Klapka scored a third-period power-play goal and Devin Cooley made 21 saves for the Flames (8-10-1). Calgary had won six of its seven previous games against the Rangers at the Saddledome.

Mika Zibanejad’s two goals carry Rangers past Flames 3-1 in Saddledome finale

The Rangers found themselves killing a penalty right away when Gabe Perreault was called for hooking Calgary’s Jacob Middleton at 1:13. But the NHL’s best penalty kill had little trouble keeping the Flames off the board.

Korpisalo came up big shortly before the four-minute mark when he went left to right and denied Zane Parekh’s wraparound attempt with his catching glove.

The Flames had a 6-2 advantage in shots in the first eight minutes, but the Rangers began to control more of the play after that, forcing Cooley to be sharp. However, the Flames forced Korpisalo to be sharp again late in the period; he denied Matvei Gridin from close-in with just over a minute remaining.

The period ended 0-0, with the Flames outshooting the Rangers 9-8 — but with New York having the edge in attempts (21-16) and hits (14-8).

The Rangers broke the scoreless tie 59 seconds into the second period on the first of Zibanejad’s two goals, Lafreniere’s breakout pass sent him racing through center ice and then into the right circle, where he shoveled a feed to the front of the net. The pass didn’t find a teammate — but it did wind up in the back of the net after hitting Cooley, giving New York a 1-0 lead.

“I tried to bank it off him. I felt like he came out, he left the post I guess,” Zibanejad said postgame. “Just try to put it in there, hoping that he backs in it. Luckily, it worked this time.”

The Rangers continued to dominate play through the first half of the period and doubled their lead at 10:52 on a power-play rocket by Zibanejad from the lower left circle. No. 93 won the face-off after ex-Ranger Ryan Strome was sent off for holding Kartye at 10:39 and drifted over to his favorite spot, where Pavel Dorofeyev fed him a perfect cross-ice pass for a one-timer that Cooley had no chance to stop.

Korpisalo was at his best in the final minutes of the period. He made another big stop on Gridin’s rip from the right side on a 3-on-2 and denied Strome three times from close in during a scramble with 45 seconds remaining after the Flames made a late-period push.

The Rangers had a chance to expand their lead when Klapka was sent off for cross-checking Cuylle at 2:11 of the third period, but couldn’t capitalize. But a holding penalty by Vladislav Gavrikov at 5:47 gave the Flames the chance to get back into the game — and they did.

New York actually killed almost all of the penalty easily. But in the final 10 seconds, Strome controlled the puck just above the goal line to Korpisalo’s right and slipped a pass in front, where Klapka banged it home to cut the Blueshirts’ lead to 2-1.

But Calgary couldn’t get another puck past Korpisalo. The Flames’ best chance came with just under two minutes left when Yegor Sharangovich’s deflection went just over the crossbar.

They pulled Cooley with 1:40 remaining, but the Rangers kept the Flames from generating a good scoring chance before Kartye hit the empty net with 6.5 seconds left to put the game away.

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