GLENDALE, Ariz. _ The New York Rangers had battled back twice from two goals down two nights ago to defeat Ottawa at Madison Square Garden.
Thursday night, the Coyotes _ who had lost five straight _ tried to do the same thing to the Blueshirts, recovering from two-goal deficits to tie the score in the third period.
But Matt Puempel's two goals in the third period, completing the first hat trick of his career, dashed the Coyotes' hopes in a 6-3 Rangers victory.
With the scored tied at 3, Puempel set a screen in front and deflected Ryan McDonagh's shot past Mike Smith, scoring his second power-play goal with 5:20 left in the third for the winner in the first of a two-game road trip. The Blueshirts, who were 4-for-7 with the man-advantage, sealed it on J.T. Miller's empty-netter with 26.7 left.
Puempel added his third with 17 seconds left, and Coyotes goalie Smith had a meltdown after the goal was scored. He slammed his stick twice against the post and broke it in half.
It was Coyote Ugly for the first half of the opening period. Power-play goals from Puempel, whose pass hit Alex Goligoski's stick and went in at 2:24, and Nick Holden, his third goal in the last two games on assists from Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller at 8:01, put the Rangers ahead. They might've had more but regularly tried to force the puck across the slot and missed the net with shots nine times.
The Coyotes (11-20-5) trimmed the lead in half after Dan Girardi's icing. Christian Dvorak's shot from the top of the right circle hit Brady Skjei in front and bounced past Antti Raanta (18 saves), who may have been screened by ex-Ranger Josh Jooris at 15:16. Raanta had not faced the Coyotes as a Ranger, but was 3-0-1 with a 1.47 goals against average and a .957 save percentage against Arizona with Chicago. The Rangers (25-12-1) had edged Arizona, 4-3, at MSG on Oct. 23, with the game-winner from Girardi.
At 1:13 of the second, Chris Kreider stretched in front for a pretty deflection of Holden's shot to restore the two-goal and then was cross-checked to the ice from behind by Connor Murphy. It was Kreider's 12th of the season and fourth in the last five games. Holden's assist was his 20th point of the year.
Raanta denied Radim Vrbata in front at 6:26, and for the next minute Jesper Fast didn't clear the zone twice and Raanta had to cover to force a stoppage. Skjei went off for holding at 12:29, but the man-advantage was negated 10 seconds later when Hayes was hooked by Peter Holland.
Holden saved a goal when with Raanta scrambling, thwarting a wraparound try at the right post with just over five minutes left in the second.
Former Rangers prospect Anthony Duclair scored his second goal in two games when he deked Skjei just inside the blue line and his backhander deflected off the stick check of Girardi, and floated over Raanta's stick at 15:32 and the Rangers went into the third unable to shake the Coyotes, who had just 13 shots.
Raanta darted to his right to rob Vrbata again in the first minute of the third as the Coyotes turned on their forecheck. Duclair then drove around McDonagh to the net with 13:17 left, drawing a questionable penalty, and Tobias Rieder worked a left-to-right give-and-go with Vrbata on a rush and tied the game at 3. It was Rieder's first goal in 12 games, and the last for the Coyotes.
