WINNIPEG — Kevin Hayes was at the right place at the right time Thursday night.
The New York forward scored a ricocheting power-play goal with 1:09 left in the third period to lift the Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
"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."
Jets forward Drew Stafford was in the penalty box for high sticking when Ryan McDonagh’s shot from the high slot went off Winnipeg forward Adam Lowry’s stick.
Hayes was right there to put the puck past goalie Michael Hutchinson for his 11th goal of the season and New York’s second goal with the man advantage.
"I saw McDonagh go to shoot in the slot and as soon as he went to release it, a bunch of traffic came into my eyesight," Hutchinson said.
"As a goalie, you wait that fraction of a second where the puck should hit you or the boards. I didn’t hear anything, then my peripheral vision caught the puck to my right. I tried to push over, but I just couldn’t get there."
Hutchinson finished with 22 saves for the Jets (13-14-3).
The teams were tied 1-1 after the second period on Chris Kreider’s power-play goal in the first for New York and Mark Scheifele’s 14th of the season midway through the second.
Antti Raanta, playing in his first game since Nov. 27, made 17 saves for the Rangers (18-9-1). The Finnish goaltender praised his teammates’ penalty killing, especially when Winnipeg had two power plays in the third period.
"I think the first penalty in the third period, we didn’t give them zone time at all," Raanta said. "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."
The Rangers had 10 blocked shots and Winnipeg 15.
"They were blocking a few," McDonagh said of the Jets. "Pretty fortuitous bounce (for Hayes’ goal), but we had the puck in the zone for a while and good things happen there."
New York opened the scoring at 8:02 of the first period when a trio of precision passes started with Mats Zuccarello and ended with Derek Stepan sending Kreider the puck at the side of an open net. The goal extended Kreider’s point streak to four games, with three goals and two assists.
The Rangers outshot the Jets 10-6 after the first, but could have been up by more if not for some tough stops by Hutchinson.
Scheifele, who missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, used a rebound off a Paul Postma point shot to score at 9:51 of the second.
Stafford’s infraction on defenceman Dan Girardi with 2:56 left in the third had fans at MTS Centre booing.
Jets coach Paul Maurice was asked if Girardi did a "sell job."
"I can’t tell," Maurice said. "It doesn’t matter. It’s a high stick, it’s up there. Whether you think you’re right or not, it doesn’t matter. You have to learn how to play with your stick on the ice and get your body in the right spots."
The Rangers finish off a three-game road trip in Chicago on Friday, while the Jets travel to Calgary on Saturday.
