Kreider has hat trick, assist for Rangers in win against Coyotes

NEW YORK --Chris Kreider scored a hat trick to set an NHL career high in goals in the New York Rangers' 7-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Kreider has scored 29 goals, tied for the NHL lead with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, and one more than his previous high of 28 in 2016-17 and 2018-19. He scored at even strength, on the power play and shorthanded, and had an assist.
The 30-year-old has scored eight goals in an NHL career-long five-game goal streak.
"He's just playing with a lot of confidence," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "Him and his linemates are playing real well together and the power play has been really good this year, clicking. He knows where to score goals. He's around that net. He shoots the puck real well and skates well. He just keeps his game simple."

Jacob Trouba had two goals and an assist, Mika Zibanejad had three assists to extend his point streak to eight games, and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for the Rangers (27-11-4), who trailed 3-1 in the second period after they were outshot 16-4 in the first period.
Trouba said the slow start could be attributed to their late arrival home after losing 6-3 at the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. Bad weather delayed their return flight, and they didn't get in until after 4 a.m. ET.
"Wild 48 hours for us," Trouba said. "It took a little bit to get our legs and our momentum going, but we had good composure in between periods. We didn't like our game. We stuck with it. We know we have a team that is capable of turning it on. You don't want to rely on turning it on and off, but a unique 48 hours for us and it's good to be able to do that."
Clayton Keller, Andrew Ladd and Liam O'Brien scored for the Coyotes (10-26-4), who have lost two in row after winning two straight.
Karel Vejmelka allowed six goals on 20 shots before being replaced by Scott Wedgewood after Trouba's second goal gave New York a 6-3 lead at 1:33 of the third period. Wedgewood made six saves.
"There's two parts, the first part really good and the second part not at all," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "It's not like as a team we're used to that. We fought in every game since the beginning of the season. … We're happy about the consistency of our effort since the beginning of the season. We're not tonight. We'll address it on Monday."
The Rangers comeback started with Kreider's shorthanded goal at 11:30 of the second period that made it 3-2.
"That was the biggest thing, definitely," Gallant said. "The shorthanded goal was huge for us. It was a big, big goal. It got us back to 3-2. It was definitely the momentum changer."
Julien Gauthier scored from the slot at 15:26 to tie it 3-3. The forward was a late addition to the lineup, replacing Kaapo Kakko, who was scratched with an upper-body injury after skating in warmups.
Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal to give New York a 4-3 lead at 16:33, and Kreider's second of the game made it 5-3 at 18:42.
Kreider's power-play goal at 10:06 gave him the hat trick and made it 7-3.
"We started the second period well, we had our chances, we give that goal on the PK and then the game turned around," Tourigny said. "From there I did not like the way we fought. The grit we had was not there. That's the part we're sour about."

O'Brien scored off a rebound to give Arizona a 1-0 lead at 2:29 of the first period.
Trouba scored 46 seconds later with a wrist shot, tying it 1-1 at 3:15.
Ladd gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead at 6:56. Keller extended the lead to 3-1 at 7:01 of the second period.
The Rangers had a similar comeback win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at home Wednesday, when they won 6-3 after scoring five straight goals in the final two periods.
"We know we're not out of it," Kreider said. "At the same time, we know we need to play the right way to generate those chances. The challenge for us is just doing that from the drop of the puck, not digging ourselves a hole regardless of whether we have legs early on."
NOTES: Rangers forward Filip Chytil sustained a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return. He's day to day. … Gallant said Kakko's injury had been lingering for a while, but they didn't realize he wouldn't be able to play until after warmups. He's also day to day. … The seven goals were a single-game season-high for New York. … Kreider's power-play goal was his NHL-leading 14th and his 72nd with the Rangers, tying Mark Messier for eighth in their history. … Zibanejad has scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists) during his streak. His longest NHL point streak is nine games (Feb. 11-27, 2020). … Rangers defenseman Adam Fox extended his point streak to five games (nine points; two goals, seven assists). … Shesterkin has won six in a row and 11 of 12. … Trouba's last multigoal game was April 6, 2017 for the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-4 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets.