Kaapo Kakko’s late goal lifts Rangers past Canadiens 4-3

By Allan Kreda

Kaapo Kaako scored a power-play goal with 24 seconds left, and the New York Rangers stopped a five-game slide by topping the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Saturday.

Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers, who got their first win since a 4-3 victory at Vancouver on Nov. 19. Adam Fox had two assists, and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves.

With Montreal’s Kirby Dach serving a four-minute, high-sticking penalty, Kaako got his fourth goal of the season.

The Canadiens trailed 3-1 after two periods. But Cole Caufield scored his 14th goal 4:16 into the third and Nick Suzuki tied it at 14:07.

Trocheck tipped the puck past Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault at 19:56 to put New York ahead after Panarin and Montreal’s Mike Matheson scored earlier in the first.

Panarin put the Rangers ahead at 9:02, scoring on a 5-on-3 for New York’s first power-play goal since Nov. 12 at home against Winnipeg.

Matheson tied it at 11:47.

Montembault made 24 saves for Montreal.

Takeaways
Canadiens: dropped to 3-7-1 on the road.

Rangers: Forwards Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil returned to the lineup. Kreider missed three games with an upper-body injury while Chytil was out for seven after colliding with teammate K’Andre Miller on Nov. 14. Reilly Smith and Jonny Brodzinski were scratched.

Key moment
Seeking an early spark, New York captain Jacob Trouba fought Montreal’s Josh Anderson 1:58 into the contest. It appeared to give the Rangers a collective jolt that was missing in recent games.

Key stat

The Rangers are 11-1-0 when scoring first. It was the 1,700th home win in franchise history.

Up next
The Canadiens visit the Boston Bruins on Sunday. The Rangers host the New Jersey Devils on Monday.