The New York Rangers are heading home for the 100th anniversary of their first NHL game after capping a successful swing through the Northwest with a 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday night.

The Blueshirts spotted the NHL’s worst team (3-17-1) an early lead, but they tied the game late in the first period before blowing it open by scoring four goals in the second.

Two of those goals were scored by 29-year-old British Columbia native Glenn Gawdin, who was playing his second game with the Rangers and his 15th in the NHL. He’s the third-oldest Ranger — and the oldest since the team’s inaugural season in 1926-27 — to score his first NHL goal. Not surprisingly, he was the game’s First Star.

“It was a special night,” he said postgame.

Gabe Perreault, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for the Rangers (12-8-1), who finished 3-1-0 on their four-game trip through Seattle and Western Canada. Longtime Canucks forward J.T. Miller ignored the booing from the Vancouver crowd and had two assists.

Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand, a native of Victoria, British Columbia, who was playing in Vancouver for the first time in the NHL, delighted more than 50 family members and friends by making 27 saves. He defeated the Canucks for the second time in as many games this season.

Elias Pettersson gave the Canucks an early lead, but Vancouver lost its seventh straight game and dropped to 1-9-0 at home. Leevi Merilainen made 25 saves but was often left to fend for himself after the first period.

The Rangers return home Monday to face the Montreal Canadiens in the “Capstone Game,” celebrating the centennial of their NHL debut, a 1-0 win over the Montreal Maroons on Nov. 16, 1926.

Rangers cap successful road trip by drubbing Canucks 5-1

The Rangers tested Merilainen twice before the game was a minute old. He denied a tip by Tye Kartye and stopped Adam Fox two seconds later. Merilainen also made the first of two excellent saves on Noah Laba just after the five-minute mark.

Vancouver got the game’s first power play at 6:10 when Fox was sent off for cross-checking Drew O’Connor. The Canucks controlled the puck for most of the next two minutes, but the Rangers did a good job keeping them to the outside and prevented Vancouver from getting a shot on goal.

But the Canucks began to control the play after that and were rewarded at 12:13 when Pettersson, their leading scorer, deflected a shot by Zeev Buium past Garand to put Vancouver ahead 1-0. Pettersson got position on former teammate Marcus Pettersson in the slot, and Garand never saw the shot.

Merilainen kept the Canucks ahead with another big stop on Laba, this one on a deflection of a pass by Oliver Bjorkstrand. He also denied a one-timer by Pavel Dorofeyev.

But Perreault got the Rangers even at 18:47 with his seventh of the season. Miller worked the puck to Alexis Lafreniere behind the net. Lafreniere’s passout found Perreault to the goaltender’s left for a quick shot that beat Merilainen to the short side.

The Canucks ended the period with an 11-10 edge in shots on goal and a 25-14 margin in attempts, though the Rangers had an 8-4 lead in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Perhaps inspired by Perreault’s goal, the Rangers owned the second period. The Blueshirts scored four goals; the Canucks managed all of four shots.

Bjorkstrand put New York ahead to stay at 8:21, as the Rangers converted their first power play against the NHL’s worst penalty-killing unit. Miller’s feed found Bjorkstrand alone in the slot, and he snapped the puck past Merilainen to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Gawdin’s first NHL goal was a gift from Merilainen, who tried to break the puck out of his own zone only to have the pass hit a teammate. The puck came right to Gawdin, who took one stride and rifled a high 25-footer into the net at the 13-minute mark for a 3-1 lead.

In contrast, Lafreniere’s goal that made it 4-1 at 15:14 was a thing of beauty. He deked Merilainen and tucked home a backhander after a terrific pass by Mika Zibanejad on a play started by Perreault.

Gawdin was in the right place at the right time again at 16:10. With the Canucks looking totally lost by now, Vladislav Gavrikov teed up a slap shot from the left point. Gawdin was in front of the net to Merilainen’s left; the shot hit his skate and slid inside the post for a 5-1 lead.

To their credit, the Canucks didn’t roll over in the third period. They had the first seven shots, forced Garand to make a couple of sharp saves and even killed a penalty. Garand also robbed Pettersson with his glove and denied Linus Karlsson with a diving save during a mid-period power play.

About the only disappointment was that Gawdin couldn’t complete a hat trick, even though coach Mike Sullivan gave him a couple of late shifts on the first line. But rolling over the Canucks for their fifth win in six games was more than enough to send the Rangers back to New York with smiles all around.