NHL roundup: Kaapo Kakko's late goal caps Rangers' comeback

[December 16, 2021] Kaapo Kakko scored his second goal of the game during a power play with 2:18 remaining in the third period and the visiting New York Rangers rallied for a 3-2 victory over the league-worst Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night in Glendale, Ariz.

Kakko was on New York's first power-play unit because Artemi Panarin left the game after playing the first period and just one shift in the opening minutes of the second period. Postgame, the Rangers announced that Panarin exited due to a minor lower-body injury.

Kakko scored the first goal for the Rangers midway through the second period. Mika Zibanejad got the primary assist on that goal, and he scored on a third-period power play as the Rangers avoided taking three straight regulation losses for the first time this season while playing their sixth game in nine days.

Loui Erikkson scored a short-handed goal and Clayton Keller netted a power-play goal for the Coyotes, whose losing streak reached six games.

Blackhawks 5, Capitals 4 (OT)

Caleb Jones stuffed a rebound past Ilya Samsonov with 3:39 remaining in overtime and also tallied an assist to lift host Chicago to a victory over Washington.

The Blackhawks regrouped after the Capitals' Conor Sheary scored on a one-timer with three seconds left in regulation, tying the game at 4. Chicago also got two power-play goals from Alex DeBrincat plus tallies from Philipp Kurashev and MacKenzie Entwistle. Marc-Andre Fleury made 42 saves.

Anaheim Ducks center Troy Terry (19) shoots on goal against the Seattle Kraken during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Lars Eller, Sheary and Alex Ovechkin each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals. Daniel Sprong also scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves.

Ducks 4, Kraken 1

Troy Terry moved into a tie for fourth place in the NHL's goal-scoring race with his 18th of the season and Anthony Stolarz made 19 saves as Anaheim defeated visiting Seattle.

Trevor Zegras, Derek Grant and Sam Carrick also scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks, who improved to 5-1-2 this month. Stolarz has won six consecutive decisions after losing his first two starts of the season.

Ryan Donato scored the lone goal for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer stopped 15 of 18 shots through two periods, but he was shaken up in a collision late in the second with Carrick and sat out the third. Chris Driedger took over and stopped five of the six shots he faced.

--Field Level Media

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.