NEW YORK (AP) - Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and added an assist, rookie Boo Nieves had three assists and the New York Rangers beat the winless Arizona Coyotes 5-2 Thursday night.
Michael Grabner had two goals, Chris Kreider also scored and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 27 shots to help the Rangers get just their third victory of the season in the finale of a season-high six-game homestand.
New York shook up its line combinations and played with a traditional lineup consisting of 12 forwards and six defensemen for the first time in a week. It helped the Rangers beat Arizona for the eighth straight time, dating back to March 24, 2014.
Anthony Duclair and Clayton Keller scored, and Adin Hill made 24 saves as the Coyotes fell to 0-9-1. The loss spoiled the return of former Rangers star Derek Stepan to Madison Square Garden for the first time since he was traded to Arizona along with goalie Antti Raanta in the offseason.
Arizona trailed 2-0 after one period before Duclair got a loose puck in front of the net and beat Pavelec for his third of the season at 5:13 of the second.
The Rangers regained their two-goal lead just 46 seconds later as Nieves, called up from Hartford of the AHL on Tuesday, set up Grabner for his second assist of the game.
After Hill turned the puck over, Buchnevich took advantage by scoring into the open net for his first career multi-goal game and putting the Rangers up 4-1. Nieves got his third assist on the play.
Keller extended his point streak to four-games with a power-play goal at 3:52 of the third to pull the Coyotes within two again. Keller leads all NHL rookies with seven goals this season.
Grabner sealed the win with an empty-netter in the final minute.
Kreider opened the scoring at 8:01 of the first after he buried a beautiful drop pass from Mats Zuccarello.
With 4:03 remaining in the opening period, Buchnevich fired a long-distance wrist shot off the post and in to give New York a two-goal advantage. Nieves got his earned his first career NHL point on the play.
Stepan played the first seven seasons of his career in New York and skated in 515 contests with the Rangers. Raanta did not play due to a lower-body injury.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault got his 617th career victory, tying Jacques Lemaire for 13th place on NHL's all-time wins list.
NOTES: Rick Nash skated in his 1,000th career NHL game, becoming the 312th player in NHL history to reach the milestone. ... Pavelec became the third Czech-born goaltender to make 10,000 career saves (Dominik Hasek and Tomas Vokoun). ... Marc Staal skated in his 700th career NHL game. ... The Rangers scratched F Paul Carey and D Steven Kampfer. ... Arizona scratched D Kevin Connauton and F Christian Fischer. ... Arizona F Brendan Perlini returned after missing the previous six games with an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT:
Coyotes: At New Jersey on Saturday.
Rangers: At Montreal on Saturday.
