NEW YORK — It would be difficult to imagine a poorer start for the Rangers against one of the worst teams in the NHL than the one they endured at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
But then they did what good teams do, suddenly waking up midway through their game against the Coyotes and storming to a 7-3 victory.
The fun included four goals in the final nine minutes of the second period, two from Chris Kreider, who added a third for a hat trick in the third period.
Kreider, who scored his fifth career hat trick, is tied with Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead in goals with a career-high 29 this season.
Jacob Trouba added two goals for the winners.
The surge energized previously concerned fans and avoided what would have been a lost weekend for the Rangers.
They understood the challenge they faced in Raleigh on Friday, when they encountered one of the best teams in the NHL in the Hurricanes and came away with a 6-3 loss.
But on paper, Saturday should have been a relative breeze. The Coyotes were coming off a 4-0 loss to the Islanders on Friday night and are NHL also-rans. They are 10-26-4 and their 24 points are a distant last in the Central Division.
The Rangers (27-11-4) announced shortly before puck drop that Kaapo Kakko would not play because of an upper-body injury. They described his status as day-to-day.
Dryden Hunt initially replaced Kakko on the first line, and Julien Gauthier was dressed and placed on the third line.
The Rangers looked awful for most of the first period, which ended with the Coyotes ahead 2-1.
At one point Arizona had a 15-2 edge in shots on goal before heading into intermission up 16-4.
It began 2:29 into the game when Liam O’Brien was left alone in front of Igor Shesterkin’s goal and scored with ease.
But it was not long before the Rangers answered. Trouba scored on a long shot through traffic as the puck eluded Arizona goalie Karel Vejmelka.
The Coyotes responded at 6:56 when former Islander Andrew Ladd scored. Christian Fischer found him from behind the goal, and the Rangers neglected to cover him.
Trouba hit the post with a shot and the Rangers did finally generate some chances in the period’s final minutes, but Arizona held the lead.
Filip Chytil left after the first period with what the team described as a lower-body injury.
The second period began with coach Gerard Gallant making changes with his lines, notably starting out with Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin playing together.
Early on, even that didn’t help. At 7:03 of the second, Clayton Keller’s shot hit Shesterkin’s blocker and the puck skidded behind him. He fell on it with his back, but it already had crossed the line, and it was 3-1.
That was it for Arizona’s success in the second period, as the Rangers suddenly awoke to score four goals in short order.
It began with a short-handed goal for Kreider off a feed from Trouba at 11:30. That was his 27th of the season.
At 15:26, Gauthier scored off a mess in front of the Arizona goal, and it was tied.
Fifteen seconds after the Coyotes' Johan Larsson was penalized for punching Adam Fox in the back of the head, Panarin scored at 16:33 to put the Rangers ahead, and the Garden was rocking.
Kreider made it 5-3 at 18:42 with his 28th goal, unassisted.
Trouba made it 6-3 at 1:33 of the third.
But fans were not done celebrating. At 10:06 of the third, Kreider scored a power-play goal, and hats rained onto the ice.
Later, the NHL goals leaders were shown on the video board, with Kreider one ahead of Alex Ovechkin (briefly). Cheers ensued.
