Rangers beat Golden Knights on Adam Edstrom’s third-period goal

LAS VEGAS — Could the Rangers really be turning the corner?

It’s probably a little early to say that, but it’s starting to look as if it’s possible.

Fourth-liner Adam Edstrom’s artful redirection of Jonny Brodzinski’s centering feed at 5:57 of the third period broke a tie and the penalty kill came up with two huge kills after that as the Rangers beat the Vegas Golden Knights, 2-1, in the opener of their three-game road trip.

The win was the second straight for the Rangers, giving them consecutive victories for the first time since Nov. 14-19, when they won three straight to top out at their high-water mark of 12-4-1.

“Crazy,’’ Brodzinski said. “It’s awesome. Just getting some life back in this locker room, and especially during games like this, where we’re going out expecting to win every single game. And, you know, we get down one, it doesn’t really matter anymore. I think, you know, we have a belief in here, and everybody’s playing with a ton of confidence.’’

Does this mean the Rangers have turned it around?

“It’s two wins,” coach Peter Laviolette said with a grin. “But I do think that the guys, we’re playing a better brand of hockey right now. Like even — I’ve said this before, in some of the games we weren’t winning, were playing — we’re doing the right things to win games. And I think when you do that more consistently, your chances of being successful, you know, they go up.’’

The victory also lifted the Rangers back to the NHL’s version of .500 (20-20-2) and was the second by a New York team over the Golden Knights (28-10-3) at T-Mobile Arena in three days after the Islanders’ 4-0 win on Thursday.

Igor Shesterkin, playing his second straight game after missing four games with an upper-body injury, made 29 saves.

“We’re just all of us on one page right now,” he said. “We just play our game, but we play against really good team tonight. So if you want to win against team like Vegas, we need to play our game.’’

The road trip continues Tuesday in Denver before concluding Thursday in Utah.

Brodzinski said of the last penalty kill, with 2:55 remaining and Urho Vaakanainen off for hooking: “It seems like especially during our losing streak . . .  whatever could happen at the end of games happened. So we take that penalty, but, I mean, guys just gutted it out. I think a few games ago was kind of the turning point in our season. And something like that’s not gonna stop us from winning games now.’’

With Filip Chytil missing his second straight game because of an upper-body injury and Chris Kreider still on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, the Rangers’ lineup looked a little thin to start the game. Thursday’s overtime hero, Sam Carrick, who’s been the fourth-line center for each of the season’s first 41 games, was moved up to the third line between newcomer Arthur Kaliyev and Jimmy Vesey, who was back in the lineup after sitting out against the Devils. Brodzinski centered the fourth line, between Matt Rempe and Edstrom.

Former Golden Knight Reilly Smith,  who made his first trip back to Las Vegas since he was traded to Pittsburgh before last season, clearly was looking to make something happen against his old team. He was very active offensively, had several really good scoring chances and led all players in shots on goal (three) after the first period. He was tied for the lead with Trocheck (five) after two.

Smith  also was part of the line, with the heating-up Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle, that matched up against Vegas’ top line of Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. And the Rangers’ line more than held its own against Vegas’ top line, outshooting them 9-4 through two periods, though Eichel did have a shot that rang off the crossbar late in the second.

Stone got the first goal of the game, on a power play, with Trocheck sitting out a holding penalty early in the second period. Stone was set up outside the left wing goalpost, below the goal line, when Eichel passed him the puck. He was able to walk out to the bottom of the left circle and beat Shesterkin at 6:16 for his 12th goal of the season.

Trocheck got the goal back 3 minutes and 38 seconds later, though he paid the price for it. Playing the net-front position in place of Kreider, Trocheck was hit in the groin by a wicked one-timer from Zibanejad, but the puck dropped right in front of him, and he was able to backhand it home past Vegas goalie Ilya Samsonov before doubling over in pain.

While he doubled over, he took a stick in the face from Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague, too, though that wasn’t called as a penalty. After his joyous teammates swarmed him to celebrate, Trocheck skated right off the ice and headed straight to the locker room. He managed to return a few minutes later.

The teams finished the period tied at 1-1, though the fans in the building thought the home team might have scored just before the period was over. There was a mad scramble in front of the Rangers’ net with time running down and the puck eventually got past Shesterkin and dribbled across the goal line. The fans erupted, but the scoreboard clock showed 0:00 and the green lights were on behind the Rangers’ goal, indicating time had expired before the puck had crossed the goal line. The referees confirmed as much and the teams went to intermission tied.