Gawdin, who is from nearby Richmond, British Columbia, was playing in his 15th NHL game since making his debut in 2020-21. It was the 29-year-old forward’s second game with New York after being called up from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
Alexis Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault each had a goal and an assist, and J.T. Miller had two assists for the Rangers (12-8-1), who went 3-1-0 on a four-game road trip and have won five of their past six (5-1-0). Dylan Garand made 27 saves.
Elias Pettersson scored, and Leevi Merilainen made 25 saves for the Canucks (3-17-1) who have lost seven in a row (0-7-0) and are 1-16-1 in their past 18 games.
Brock Boeser had an assist to reach 500 career points (233 goals, 267 assists) with Vancouver in his 650th game.
Pettersson put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 12:13 of the first period by deflecting a Zeev Buium point shot down under the extended glove of Garand from the top of the crease.
It was Pettersson’s fifth goal of the season, but his first 5-on-5 goal since Jan. 13, ending a 56-game drought.
Perreault tied it 1-1 at 18:47, taking a pass from Lafreniere behind the net to the bottom of the right face-off circle and lifting a wrist shot just under the crossbar and inside the post by the ear of Merilainen.
Oliver Bjorkstrand put the Rangers ahead 2-1 on the power play at 8:21 of the second period, collecting a cross-ice pass from Miller at the top left hash mark for a wrist shot under the blocker arm of Merilainen.
Gawdin scored his first NHL goal at 13:00 to make it 3-1 after Merilainen’s clearing attempt from the top of his crease bounced off Filip Chytil to Gawdin for a quick blocker side shot.
Lafreniere extended it to 4-1 at 15:14, finishing off a 3-on-2 passing play by taking a backdoor pass and cutting across the crease around a sprawled Merilainen before tucking it in on the backhand.
Gawdin’s second goal made it 5-1 at 16:10 after he deflected in a Vladislav Gavrikov point shot from the right edge of the crease.
