Zibanejad scores twice, Korpisalo makes 29 saves as Rangers beat Flames

CALGARY · Mika Zibanejad scored twice in the second period to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves for the Rangers, who have won four of their last five games. Tye Kartye added an empty-net goal for New York (11-8-1). Adam Klapka scored the lone goal for Calgary (8-10-1), which finished its three-game homestand with a 1-2-0 record. Devin Cooley stopped 21 shots in the loss.

Zibanejad opened the scoring just 59 seconds into the second period, banking a puck from behind the goal line off Cooley's right leg and into the net. "I tried to bank it off of him," Zibanejad said. "I felt like he came out. He left the post, I guess. I just tried to put it in there hoping that he backs into it and luckily it worked this time."

He extended the lead to 2-0 on a power play later in the period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Pavel Dorofeyev past Cooley. The goal was Zibanejad's first in seven games, ending a drought dating back to Oct. 22. He now has a four-game point streak with two goals and four assists.

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"He can really shoot the puck. I'm happy for him," Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's an important player for us and he's a real good hockey player. He's one of our better goal-scorers and we'd like to see him shoot the puck and think more shot first."

Korpisalo, activated from injured reserve on Nov. 6 after missing six weeks with a lower-body injury, earned his second straight win. He made a spectacular first-period save, dropping his stick and diving across the crease to stop a wraparound attempt by Flames defenceman Zayne Parekh with the open hand of his blocker. "That was a heck of a play by him," Korpisalo said. "He got me swimming, and it's just straight desperation. I dropped my stick to get leverage to get my blocker there and I got lucky."

Klapka cut the deficit to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 7:41 of the third period, tapping a pass from Ryan Strome through Korpisalo's legs. "He's one of our guys that goes to the net pretty consistently, so that's the reason why he's been there," Flames coach Ryan Huska said of Klapka. "The other reason is his play's been consistent all year." The Flames pushed for an equalizer but could not beat Korpisalo again. "I thought we had a really good first and third," Strome said. "The second kind of killed us a little bit and that was the theme the other night, too. We've got to find a way to have a complete 60." Kartye sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 19:53.

Glenn Gawdin made his Rangers debut at fourth-line centre against his former team, playing his first NHL game since March 6, 2024. Alexis Lafreniere had two assists for New York. The Rangers moved into a tie for first in the NHL with 11 wins when scoring the first goal of the game. Up next: The Rangers visit the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. The Flames open a three-game road trip on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.

With files from The Globe and Mail, Yahoo Sports and Sportsnet