Gawdin’s big game powers New York Rangers to 5-1 victory over Vancouver Canucks

VANCOUVER — Glenn Gawdin scored the first and second goals of his NHL career in his hometown and the New York Rangers came from behind to throttle the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 on Friday.

Gabe Perreault and Alexis Lafreniere each scored and notched an assist for the Rangers (12-8-1), while Oliver Bjorkstrang scored and former Canuck J.T. Miller recorded a pair of helpers.

New York got 27 saves from Dylan Garand as they closed out a four-game western road trip.

The Canucks (3-17-1) got off to a solid start with Elias Pettersson scoring midway through the first period before crumbling in the second and surrendering three goals across the frame.

Leevi Merilaninen stopped 25 of the 30 shots he faced for a Vancouver side that lost its seventh straight game.

Canucks winger Brock Boeser hit a milestone, assisting on Pettersson’s goal for the 500th point of his NHL career.

The tally came at the 12:13 mark of the first.

Battling in front of the Rangers net with his former teammate defenceman Marcus Pettersson, Elias Pettersson deflected Zeev Buium’s long-range blast in to put Vancouver up 1-0.

The goal marked the Canucks centre’s first even-strength goal since Jan. 13.

Boeser now has 233 goals and 267 assists over 650 regular-season games, all with the Canucks.

New York levelled the score before the first intermission when Perreault collected a pass from Lafreniere and ripped a shot that hit the back of the net and popped out again.

The Rangers took over in the second, starting with Bjorkstrang swiping a shot in over Merilaninen’s shoulder from the high hash marks on a power play 8:21 into the period to make it 2-1.

A bad bounce put the Canucks further behind minutes later.

Merilainen tried to clear the puck but hit Filip Chytil and it popped out to Gawdin, who quickly sent a shot in to give New York a 3-1 lead.

Gawdin, who hails from the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, B.C., was called up from the American Hockey League’s Hartford Wolf Pack on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old depth forward’s strike sparked an offensive onslaught that saw the Rangers score three goals over three minutes and nine seconds.

Lafreniere made it 4-1 at the 15:16 mark of the second, collecting a pass from Mika Zibanejad, moving the puck to his backhand and pulling it around Merilaninen before putting the shot in.

Fifty-three seconds later, Gawdin deflected a shot from Vladislav Gavrikov to put New York up by four goals.

Vancouver pushed in the third, outshooting the visitors 13-8 but couldn’t get a shot past Garand.

TAKEAWAYS

Canucks: Got second-line centre Chytil and second-pair defenceman Tom Willander back from injury. Cameron Crotty also made his debut for Vancouver after he was picked up off waivers from the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.

Rangers: Have won five of six outings after a four-game losing skid to climb into third place in the Metropolitan Division.

KEY MOMENT

Merilainen’s clearing error 13:00 into the second period proved to be costly, with Gawdin picking off the puck and giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

KEY STAT

Boeser is the eighth player in Canucks history to hit the 500-point milestone with the franchise. He has the second-most goals (233) in team history behind Markus Naslund (238).

UP NEXT

Canucks: Kick off a three-game road swing on Sunday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Rangers: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2026.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press