Late goal lifts Rangers past Jets

WINNIPEG -- Kevin Hayes scored a power-play goal with 1:09 left in the third period to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre on Thursday.
Jets forward Drew Stafford took a high-sticking minor with 2:56 left. Ryan McDonagh's point shot was partially blocked in front, but the puck went to Hayes, who scored his 11th goal of the season from the side of the net.

"I think it was a greasy goal, a point shot off about three guys," Hayes said. "(I) just tipped it in. That was definitely puck luck, for sure."
Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers (18-9-1) and has three goals and two assists in his past four games. Antti Raanta made 17 saves; he is 6-1-0 in eight starts.
WATCH: All Rangers vs. Jets highlights
The Rangers scored twice on the power play after going 0-for-6 Tuesday in a 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders. The Rangers are 9-0-1 after a loss.
Mark Scheifele, playing for the first time in four games, scored for the Jets (13-14-3). Michael Hutchinson allowed two goals on 24 shots.
"We had a lot of good [offensive] zone time in the second period," Scheifele said. "It was a great shot by [defenseman Paul Postma]. I was in the right place at the right time. We had an unlucky bounce at the end. It's tough to lose that way.
Kreider scored his third goal in his past three games to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead on the power play. With Scheifele in the box for interference, Mats Zuccarello found Derek Stepan with a cross-ice pass. Stepan quickly passed back across the ice to Kreider, whose tip in finished the tic-tac-toe play at 8:02.
Scheifele tied the game 1-1 at 9:51 of the second period. Postma's point shot was stopped by Raanta, but the rebound fell to Scheifele, who was in front of the Rangers net.

The Rangers killed off two penalties in the third period with the game tied 1-1.
"The guys have been doing a great job this season and that was the perfect example of what they're doing," Raanta said. "I think the first penalty in the third period, we didn't give them zone time at all. The second one was just a great job of blocking the shots and taking the passes away.
"It's a great thing to be a goalie when the guys do that kind of job in front of you. Everybody's putting their whole body on the line so it's a great thing."

Goal of the game

Hayes needed just a quick tap of the stick on the puck to score the game-winning goal.

Save of the game

Hutchinson stretched across the crease to deny Rangers forward J.T. Miller with a right pad save in the first period.

Highlight of the game

Kreider tapped in his seventh of the season to finish off a nice passing sequence in the first period.

Unsung performance of the game

Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi blocked three shots and helped kill two third-period penalties with the game tied 1-1.

They said it

"I love wins and the score doesn't really matter. I thought tonight we played a good game. We had a real strong first period. In the second period, they had a good push. Their defense was really active on their forecheck and made it a little bit more challenging for us." -- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault
"That's just part of the game. You obviously want those guys in your lineup every night but injuries happen. You can't blame them when they do and you can't talk about how good of a win was it when they weren't in the lineup. Injuries are part of hockey and you just got to roll with it." -- Rangers forward Kevin Hayes on missing key players because of injury
"They had a little bit more jump because we gave them jump. We were off the puck. We find success when we're forechecking. ... If we give teams like this with a lot of speed and skill time, they're going to make plays, they're going to make seam passes, they're going to skate through you. The more aggressive we got, finally, in the second period when we jumped on them we were able to take back some of the momentum and claw back into it." -- Jets forward Drew Stafford

Need to know

The Rangers have 99 goals in 28 games this season, most in the NHL. … The Rangers are 15-1-0 when Miller gets a point. … Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien extended his point streak to six games with an assist. He has one goal and six assists over that stretch.

What's next

Rangers: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN-US, CSN-CH, MSG+ NHL.TV)
Jets: At the Calgary Flames on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, NHL.TV)