By Canadian Press

Rangers sit atop NHL after Kreider, Strome help beat Oilers

Jan 3, 2022 | 8:27 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Kreider scored his 20th goal, Ryan Strome had a goal and two assists, and the New York Rangers beat the slumping Edmonton Oilers 4-1 Monday night for their third straight win.

Alexis Lafrenière and Barclay Goodrow each had a goal and an assist, and Adam Fox had two assists to help the Rangers win for the fourth time in six games (4-1-1). They moved into first place atop the Metropolitan Division and the NHL; they’re tied with Washington with 48 points but hold the edge with more wins in regulation.

Alexandar Georgiev, playing for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks, stopped 33 shots to get his first win since Dec. 10 against Buffalo. He improved to 6-3-2 with a 2.72 goals-against average this season.

Ryan McLeod scored for Edmonton, which fell to 2-8-2 over their last 12 games since starting the season 16-5-0. Mikko Koskinen had 24 saves.

The Rangers held Oilers stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — the NHL’s top two point scorers at 53 and 52, respectively — off the scoresheet. McDavid had seven shots on goal, and Draisaitl had two.

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On the Rangers’ third power play of the game, they took advantage after extended puck possession in the offensive zone to push the lead to 3-1. Kreider deflected Fox’s point shot between Koskinen’s legs. The goalie thought he stopped the puck but it slowly trickled behind and over the line at 3:32. It was Kreider’s 12th power-play goal, trailing Draisaitl by one for the league lead.

The Oilers were pressing on their power play midway through the third, but Georgiev made a stellar glove stop on McDavid’s attempt from the right side. With the puck loose in front, he then denied Zach Hyman with 8 1/2 minutes left to draw chants of “Geor-gie! Geor-gie!” from the crowd.

Strome then made it 4-1 as his centering pass from the right side deflected off the skate of Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie and past Koskinen for his eighth goal with 5:49 left.

The Rangers led 1-0 after 20 minutes and doubled their lead early in the second period. Lafrenière brought the puck up the right side on a rush, sent a centering pass from the edge of the right circle to Goodrow, who beat Koskinen for his seventh at 3:49.

Mika Zibanejad, who had his eighth career hat trick Sunday in a 4-0 win over Tampa Bay, nearly added to New York’s lead but hit the crossbar at 7:43.

The Oilers cut their deficit in half a little more than six minutes later. Tyler Benson got a pass from Kyle Turris, skated along the right side and sent a centering pass from the corner and McLeod deflected it past Georgiev for his fourth with 6:00 remaining in the middle period to make it 2-1.

The Rangers went on a power play 15 seconds into the game when Koskinen was whistled for delay of game for sending the puck over the glass. The Oilers’ goalie made a nice stops on Kaapo Kakko’s tip of a shot through traffic by Fox and then on Chris Kreider’s rebound try in front 1 1/2 minutes in.

Georgiev had a nice stick save on a slap shot by Jesse Puljujarvi 4 1/2 minutes in.

Lafrenière got the Rangers on the scoreboard less than a minute later after Koskinen left the crease to play the puck behind the net. Strome skated up and took the puck away from him and sent it in front to Lafrenière, who quickly scored is eighth before the goalie could get back in position at 5:25.

POWER PLAYS

Edmonton came in with the league’s top power play at 31.2%, but went 0 for 2 against the Rangers. The Oilers are scoreless in four chances over their last four games.

The Rangers, seventh at 25.3%, were 1 for 5 against the Oilers, and are 6 for 19 over their last six games.

COVID-19 STATUS

The Rangers played without star forward Artemi Panarin for the second straight game. Panarin was placed in COVID-19 protocols before Sunday’s 4-0 win over Tampa Bay. D Ryan Lindgren and C Kevin Rooney came off protocols and played, D Jarred Tinordi also remained on the list.

UP NEXT

Oilers: At Toronto on Wednesday night to wrap up a five-game trip.

Rangers: At Vegas on Thursday night to open a five-game trip.

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Follow Vin Cherwoo at http://www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Vin A. Cherwoo, The Associated Press