McElhinney stops 25 shots, Maple Leafs beat Rangers 4-0

By VIN A. CHERWOO
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Curtis McElhinney is getting more comfortable as his career progresses, and it's been showing on the ice.

The veteran backup stopped 25 shots for his second shutout of the season and seventh of his career as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 4-0 on Thursday night.

"I just feel like I'm getting better and better," said the 34-year-old McElhinney, who is in his second season with Toronto after spending the previous four with Columbus. "I feel certainly more comfortable about my game than where I did five years ago."

McElhinney is now 5-4-0 in nine starts this season and lowered his goals-against average to 2.25 - the lowest of his career in a season while making more than one start.

James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Marleau, Zach Hyman and Justin Holl scored for the Maple Leafs in their second straight shutout and fourth straight win. Toronto also completed a sweep of the three-game season series with the Rangers.

It came one night after Frederik Andersen had 25 saves in a 5-0 win at home against the Islanders, giving Toronto back-to-back shutouts for the second time this season. The Maple Leafs extended their shutout streak to 142 minutes, 17 seconds since Dallas' Tyler Seguin scored late in the second period of Toronto's 4-1 win last Thursday.

"We did a great job in front of the net," McElhinney said. "The biggest takeaway from the game tonight and even the last one was smart decisions with the puck at the blue line."

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock likes how his team has played lately, improving to 7-2-3 in their last 12 and sitting three points behind second-place Boston in the Atlantic Division.

"We think we're getting better," he said. "We think we have a chance to be quite a bit better so we're just a work in progress. ... We're deeper than we've been, we have four lines."

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was pulled early in the second period after giving up four goals on 13 shots. Ondrej Pavelec came on and stopped all 19 shots he faced. New York, shut out for just the second time this season, has lost eight of its last 12.

The Rangers were playing for the first time since winning at San Jose last Thursday in their last game before the All-Star break, but coach Alain Vigneault didn't want to use the layoff as an excuse.

"We had two really good practices prior to this, so we should have been better than this," he said.

McElhinney had two nice saves on Rick Nash about six minutes into the third, first on a shot from the right circle and then a tip attempt in close six seconds later. McElhinney also denied Jimmy Vesey in front midway through the period.

Toronto built a 2-0 lead in the first period and then quickly adding to it in the second.

Marleau scored 52 seconds into the middle period off a rebound of a shot by Nazem Kadri for his 17th.

Hyman took a pass from William Nylander, skated in on Lundqvist and went forehand to backhand before putting it in from the left side for his 10th at 3:05 to make it 4-0 and chase Lundqvist.

Holl got Toronto on the board 8:42 into the game as his shot from the right side beyond the faceoff circle beat Lundqvist, who was being screened by Hyman, and rang off the left post and in. It was the defenseman's second career goal - and second in two nights after being called up from Toronto of the AHL for his NHL debut Wednesday.

The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 when van Riemsdyk put a backhand past Lundqvist for his 20th with 4:37 left.

NOTES: Toronto also had consecutive shutouts at New Jersey on Nov. 18 and against Montreal on Nov. 18. ... The Maple Leafs were without D Ron Hainsey (illness) for the second straight game. LW Matt Martin was a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game. ... Rangers F Chris Kreider missed his 14th straight game due to a blood clot in his right arm and ensuing rib surgery to alleviate it. D Kevin Shattenkirk is also out while recovering from knee surgery. ... New York F Pavel Buchnevich left the game after a collision with Toronto's Jake Gardiner about halfway through the second period and did not return.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: At Boston on Saturday night to close a two-game trip before a five-game homestand.

Rangers: At Nashville on Saturday night to open a two-game trip.

McDonagh's 2 goals lead Rangers past Sharks 6-5

By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – After three straight losses to open their road trip, the New York Rangers head into the All-Star break on a high note thanks to an unlikely goal scorer.

Ryan McDonagh scored his first two goals of the season and J.T. Miller added a goal and two assists that helped the New York Rangers salvage the final game of a four-game road trip by beating the San Jose Sharks 6-5 on Thursday night.

"The team needed that," Miller said. "We've done a lot of good things over the road trip but the win category hasn't been where we wanted. That's a good way to cap it off and make it feel good going into the break."

New York had been outscored 13-6 in losing the first three games of the trip with Miller getting benched for the final two periods in Anaheim on Tuesday night because of careless turnovers.

But the Rangers overcame a deficit in the second period with two goals from McDonagh and a short-handed tally from Brady Skjei. Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast also scored for New York, and Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves.

"I really believe that on this road trip we played better than our record indicates," coach Alain Vigneault said. "We're 1-3 but in all four games we had good starts. Somehow the second periods might have been a little bit more challenging, but tonight we found a way to get a real strong second. They came at us hard in the third but we were able to do what we needed to do."

Logan Couture scored twice to give him 20 goals on the season. Barclay Goodrow, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Tomas Hertl also scored for San Jose, and Kevin Labanc had three assists.

Aaron Dell made 23 saves.

The Sharks played without star forward Joe Thornton, who will likely miss several weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his injured right knee earlier Thursday. This marked the first time San Jose played a game without Thornton or Patrick Marleau - who left for Toronto in free agency over the summer - since Jan. 21, 2004, at Arizona.

Couture did his best to overcome Thornton's void, giving San Jose a 2-1 lead early in the second when he beat Pavelec from the slot after a good rush by Labanc.

But the Rangers erased that deficit with three goals from their defensemen in a span of just over six minutes. McDonagh struck twice in just 1:12 after scoring no goals in his first 44 games. Skjei added the insurance goal with the Sharks on the power play when Labanc cleared a rebound off Skjei's leg and into the net.

"It's a tough league to win in and then you lose a guy like Joe," Couture said. "We have to step up and other guys have to take advantage of the opportunity. We created enough offense but we played bad defensive hockey. They could have scored more than six. We gave them way too much."

Vlasic got the Sharks back within one goal midway through the third, but San Jose couldn't manage the equalizer against Pavelec.

Miller then scored with 1:50 remaining to restore the two-goal lead which was crucial when Hertl scored with 49.7 seconds to play.

"It was a pretty sloppy game in general," Vlasic said. "There were chances at both ends. We could have scored 10 and they could have scored 10 as well."

The Rangers got a boost from Hayes, who returned to the lineup after missing six games with a leg injury. Brent Burns got caught too far up ice, allowing Hayes to take a pass from Miller and come in alone on Dell to beat him with a slap shot.

The Sharks answered with two goals before New York tied it again late in the period when Fast scored off a cross-ice pass from Michael Grabner.

NOTES: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, McDonagh was the first Rangers defenseman to score two goals in a span of 72 seconds or fewer since James Patrick did it in 11 seconds on March 25, 1986, against New Jersey. ... Burns' assist on Goodrow's goal extended his points streak to six straight games.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Host Toronto next Thursday night.

Sharks: Visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

Buchnevich scores go-ahead goal, Rangers hold off Sabres 4-3

By ALLAN KREDA
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rangers have been waiting all season for Rick Nash to score in bunches. A fresh line combination may be doing the trick.

Nash scored twice for the second straight game and new linemate Pavel Buchnevich scored the winner late in the third period as the Rangers edged the conference-worst Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Thursday night.

Buchnevich scored the go-ahead goal at 16:02 after the Sabres had tied the game for the third time on a power-play goal by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen at 14:59 of the third. Nash, who opened the scoring early in the first and put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 6:49 of the third, has 13 goals this season. He also scored twice in a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

"Sometimes you get five or six opportunities a night and don't score. Other times, you get two chances and put them both in," Nash said. "You've got to stay level-headed and stay with it."

Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for the Rangers, who won their second straight after three consecutive losses.

"In the end, we had some guys playing big minutes come up with big goals," said Lundqvist, referring to the new combination of Nash with Buchnevich and center Mika Zibanejad. "They move the puck really well and their timing is there right now."

Buchnevich's goal was his 12th of the season. He also had assists on both goals by Nash.

"It's important if your line scores," the soft-spoken Buchnevich said. "You feel better."

The Rangers (24-17-5) have won 11 of their last 14 games against Buffalo, which fell to an Eastern Conference-worst 11-25-9. The Rangers currently hold one of two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Sabres continue to struggle with only one win in seven games this month.

"It's really disappointing because our power-play was sharp," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We were anxious and eager to do something big. It's just unfortunate because all of our work goes for nothing."

Buffalo defenseman Justin Falk had tied it with his first goal of the season when his long slot eluded Lundqvist at 17:10 of the second.

Falk's shot from the point slid through just as Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei and Sabres forward Sam Reinhart skated in front of Lundqvist and seemed to hamper his view. Falk's previous goal came 100 games ago in March 2015, when he was playing for Columbus.

J.T. Miller, who scored the overtime winner when the Rangers beat the Sabres 3-2 in the Winter Classic at Citi Field on Jan. 1, scored midway through the second to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Miller's 10th goal came on the power-play at 8:26 of the second when he rifled the puck past Lehner. David Desharnais assisted.

Lundqvist has dominated the Sabres in recent seasons with an 8-2-0 record since Oct. 31, 2013. He improved to 21-11-4 on the season.

"We said we needed this one. When we play on top of our game, we're a really good team," Lundqvist added. "I like the combinations right now. The lines are working hard and making smart plays."

Nash opened the scoring at 1:24 of the first on a breakaway, beating Lehner high to the glove side. Nash has points in nine of last 14 games against the Sabres with 11 goals and five assists overall. Nash hadn't scored in 12 games before his two-goal against the Flyers on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old right wing, who has 429 career goals, could become an unrestricted free agent in July after his current eight-year contract expires. He has been with the Rangers since July 2012 when he was acquired from Columbus.

Sabres forward Kyle Okposo knotted the score at 1 with his eighth goal at 18:41 of the first. He slid a rebound past Lundqvist, with assists to Reinhart and Jack Eichel, who has 19 points in his last 13 games.

Only 13 of the Rangers' 36 remaining games are at home. They are 17-8-3 at home, but just 7-9-2 away from Madison Square Garden. They start a four-game trip at Colorado on Saturday followed by contests at Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose before the All-Star break.

"We have a tough road trip ahead," Lundqvist said. "We look forward to that test."

NOTES: Four of the last five meetings between the Rangers and Sabres have been decided by one goal. ... The Rangers have won 15 of last 26 games against the Sabres with a 15-8-3 mark overall. ... The teams meet again on March 24 at Madison Square Garden. ... The Rangers were without defenseman Marc Staal because of a hip flexor. They were also without injured forward Kevin Hayes for the third straight game. ... The Sabres scratched defensemen Nathan Beaulieu and Victor Antipin.

UP NEXT

Sabres: Host Dallas on Saturday.

Rangers: At Colorado on Saturday.

Buchnevich scores go-ahead goal, Rangers hold off Sabres 4-3

By ALLAN KREDA
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rangers have been waiting all season for Rick Nash to score in bunches. A fresh line combination may be doing the trick.

Nash scored twice for the second straight game and new linemate Pavel Buchnevich scored the winner late in the third period as the Rangers edged the conference-worst Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Thursday night.

Buchnevich scored the go-ahead goal at 16:02 after the Sabres had tied the game for the third time on a power-play goal by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen at 14:59 of the third. Nash, who opened the scoring early in the first and put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 6:49 of the third, has 13 goals this season. He also scored twice in a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

"Sometimes you get five or six opportunities a night and don't score. Other times, you get two chances and put them both in," Nash said. "You've got to stay level-headed and stay with it."

Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for the Rangers, who won their second straight after three consecutive losses.

"In the end, we had some guys playing big minutes come up with big goals," said Lundqvist, referring to the new combination of Nash with Buchnevich and center Mika Zibanejad. "They move the puck really well and their timing is there right now."

Buchnevich's goal was his 12th of the season. He also had assists on both goals by Nash.

"It's important if your line scores," the soft-spoken Buchnevich said. "You feel better."

The Rangers (24-17-5) have won 11 of their last 14 games against Buffalo, which fell to an Eastern Conference-worst 11-25-9. The Rangers currently hold one of two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Sabres continue to struggle with only one win in seven games this month.

"It's really disappointing because our power-play was sharp," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We were anxious and eager to do something big. It's just unfortunate because all of our work goes for nothing."

Buffalo defenseman Justin Falk had tied it with his first goal of the season when his long slot eluded Lundqvist at 17:10 of the second.

Falk's shot from the point slid through just as Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei and Sabres forward Sam Reinhart skated in front of Lundqvist and seemed to hamper his view. Falk's previous goal came 100 games ago in March 2015, when he was playing for Columbus.

J.T. Miller, who scored the overtime winner when the Rangers beat the Sabres 3-2 in the Winter Classic at Citi Field on Jan. 1, scored midway through the second to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Miller's 10th goal came on the power-play at 8:26 of the second when he rifled the puck past Lehner. David Desharnais assisted.

Lundqvist has dominated the Sabres in recent seasons with an 8-2-0 record since Oct. 31, 2013. He improved to 21-11-4 on the season.

"We said we needed this one. When we play on top of our game, we're a really good team," Lundqvist added. "I like the combinations right now. The lines are working hard and making smart plays."

Nash opened the scoring at 1:24 of the first on a breakaway, beating Lehner high to the glove side. Nash has points in nine of last 14 games against the Sabres with 11 goals and five assists overall. Nash hadn't scored in 12 games before his two-goal against the Flyers on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old right wing, who has 429 career goals, could become an unrestricted free agent in July after his current eight-year contract expires. He has been with the Rangers since July 2012 when he was acquired from Columbus.

Sabres forward Kyle Okposo knotted the score at 1 with his eighth goal at 18:41 of the first. He slid a rebound past Lundqvist, with assists to Reinhart and Jack Eichel, who has 19 points in his last 13 games.

Only 13 of the Rangers' 36 remaining games are at home. They are 17-8-3 at home, but just 7-9-2 away from Madison Square Garden. They start a four-game trip at Colorado on Saturday followed by contests at Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose before the All-Star break.

"We have a tough road trip ahead," Lundqvist said. "We look forward to that test."

NOTES: Four of the last five meetings between the Rangers and Sabres have been decided by one goal. ... The Rangers have won 15 of last 26 games against the Sabres with a 15-8-3 mark overall. ... The teams meet again on March 24 at Madison Square Garden. ... The Rangers were without defenseman Marc Staal because of a hip flexor. They were also without injured forward Kevin Hayes for the third straight game. ... The Sabres scratched defensemen Nathan Beaulieu and Victor Antipin.

UP NEXT

Sabres: Host Dallas on Saturday.

Rangers: At Colorado on Saturday.

Rangers rout Flyers behind Nash's 2 goals

By DENIS P. GORMAN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Henrik Lundqvist and Brady Skjei sat inside the Rangers' dressing room after shellacking the Flyers, and surprisingly enough, their conversation was all about defense.

Even after Rick Nash scored twice in New York's 5-1 win over Philadelphia, the Rangers were most pleased by what happened in their own end.

"We both said that was our best collective defensive game in a long time, and we end up scoring five goals," Skjei said.

Jordan Weal put Philadelphia up 1-0 before Nash, J.T. Miller, Paul Carey and Michael Grabner combined to make it 5-1 by the end of the second period. Nash had the first and last goal for the Rangers.

"That's a testament to us playing good structurally," Skjei said. "Good team defense first leads to good looks offensively. It was a good game all around."

New York snapped a three-game skid and improved to 23-17-5. Lundqvist made 25 saves for his 20th win of the season and 425th career victory. Lundqvist became the first goaltender in league history to win at least 20 games in each of his first 13 seasons.

Philadelphia dropped to 20-16-8 with its first loss in four games. Brian Elliott gave up five goals on 21 shots before being replaced by Michal Neuvirth in the third period. Neuvirth stopped eight shots.

"We weren't competitive enough," Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said.

Entering their first meeting of the season, New York and Philadelphia were on significantly different trajectories. The Flyers had won four straight by an aggregate 21-11 margin, while the Rangers had scored two or fewer goals in eight of their last 10 games.

Coupled with the Islanders' 4-1 loss to New Jersey, the Rangers passed Pittsburgh and the Islanders for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers have a game in hand on the Islanders. Pittsburgh, which was off, now holds the second wild card.

Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead 2:06 into the game after Weal, positioned between Lundqvist, the right post and Kevin Shattenkirk, deftly redirected Radko Gudas' drive.

Nash tied it 4:24 later with his 10th of the season and his first since Dec. 15. Pavel Buchnevich set up Nash for the breakaway goal with a stretch pass between Gudas and Brandon Manning, and New York's veteran right wing snapped a shot past Elliott.

"It's what I'm supposed to do," Nash said.

New York's sputtering power play came through 16:50 into the period when Miller tipped Ryan McDonagh's slap shot past Elliott. New York entered 3 for 31 on the man advantage dating to Dec. 19, but finished 1 for 2 against the Flyers.

The Rangers ended the opening period on Carey's short-handed semi-breakaway with 9.4 seconds remaining. The goal was Carey's sixth of the season.

Grabner increased the lead to 4-1 with an unassisted goal at 10:48 of the second after stripping Jakub Voracek at the Philadelphia blueline. Nash's second of the game with 2:32 left in the period pushed the lead to 5-1.

NOTES: This was the latest date in an 82-game season that New York and Philadelphia opened the regular season series. ... The longtime rivals will meet three more times this season: Feb. 18 in New York, March 22 in Philadelphia and April 7 in Philadelphia. ... After being called up from AHL Hartford on Monday, Peter Holland dressed and began the game centering New York's third line between Grabner and Jesper Fast. The Rangers acquired Holland in a trade with the Canadiens on Nov. 30, 2017, which sent Adam Cracknell to Montreal. ... Holland dressed in place of C Kevin Hayes, who missed his second straight game with a leg contusion. ... During the second intermission, New York announced D Marc Staal would not return due to a lower body injury.

UP NEXT

Flyers: Host Toronto on Thursday night.

Rangers: Host Buffalo on Thursday night.

Penguins seek 4th in row vs. struggling Rangers

STATS, LLC

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers hold the two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference, but they seem to be heading in different directions going into their game Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Both clubs played their first game Saturday coming off their bye week, and both picked up where they left off.

Pittsburgh (23-19-3) beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 for its third straight win and fourth in five games.

The Rangers (22-19-3) lost 7-2 at home against the New York Islanders, their second straight loss and third in four games. They are 3-4-2 in their past nine.

Defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh is beginning to look like the dominant club it can be. It will try to match its season high with its fourth straight win.

The Penguins' big three -- Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel -- combined for four goals and five assists (nine points) against Detroit.

Malkin has 18 points in his past 13 games, Crosby has nine points and Kessel had six points in the last three games.

They have contributed to the top power play in the NHL. Pittsburgh has 12 power-play goals in its past 10 games, and has multiple power-play goals in seven games since Dec. 21.

"It's always fun when you win," Malkin said. "We have more confidence. The mood is better. Now we just need to stay on the same level."

It's not just the offense that is prospering. The Penguins' penalty killers have stopped opposing power plays on 23 of 24 chances over the past eight games.

"Maybe we just turned the switch," Pittsburgh winger Carl Hagelin said after collecting a point in consecutive games for the first time this season.

"It's hard to say. You can see guys are more enthusiastic at the rink and guys are bringing more energy every day. That's the type of team we need to be, and the plan is to keep doing that."

The Penguins and Rangers have split two games this season, with New York picking up an extra point in an overtime loss.

They haven't met in more than a month, and New York is searching for answers.

"You've got to put trust in your game plan and trust in your system," winger Rick Nash said. "Leaders gotta lead, and everyone's got to follow.

"The beautiful thing about a back-to-back is it's a huge game for us (Sunday), and we can put forth a good effort and turn the page on (the 7-2 loss)."

Defenseman and team captain Ryan McDonough was much harsher, citing a strong team meeting Friday with no follow-through Saturday.

"The main thing is we want a group in here that's willing to do whatever it takes to win, and right now we don't have enough guys going like that," McDonough said. "The only thing you can do is watch your game (against the Islanders) and come back ready to play hard for your teammates.

"We had a good meeting coming out of the bye week, and I did not foresee this happening like this. For us to be successful, we need everybody buying in. Right now, we don't want it.

"Fortunately, we get another opportunity. If we do the same thing (Sunday) it's going to be the same result. I hope our guys understand the importance of (Sunday). It's a huge game for us. I hope we come ready."

Barzal, Beauvillier lead Islanders to 7-2 win over Rangers

By VIN A. CHERWOO
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – Mathew Barzal was terrific and Jaroslav Halak stepped up at a couple of key moments.

It was the Islanders' day again in New York.

Barzal had two goals and three assists, Beauvillier added two goals and an assist, and the Islanders beat the Rangers 7-2 on Saturday for their ninth win in the last 10 meetings of the crosstown rivals.

Shane Prince, Thomas Hickey and Cal Clutterbuck also scored, helping the Islanders to the victory in both teams' first game after their respective five-day byes. Jordan Eberle had four assists in the Isles' highest scoring game of the season, and Halak stopped 37 shots.

"Just one of those nights where everything kind of finds its way into the back of the net," said Barzal, who leads NHL rookies with 29 assists and 44 points. "It was a great team effort honestly."

The Islanders won their second straight after a season-high six-game losing streak, and coach Doug Weight credited Halak's play, especially early in the third period when the Rangers picked up their intensity.

"When they were blitzing us ... he came up with big save after big save in a four- to five-minute span and kind of defeated them a little bit," Weight said. "Those are the flurries, those are the saves he was absolutely in charge of his game."

Kevin Hayes and Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who have lost three of four. Ondrej Pavelec was pulled in the second period after giving up five goals on 19 shots, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 16 saves.

"Mostly I am just disappointed. ... Points mean a lot right now," Lundqvist said. "We have to regroup here because it's another big one tomorrow (at Pittsburgh). I think the biggest thing right now is not trying to find an answer in everything. You just have to go to yourself right now, try to play your best game to try to help the group, and not figure out everything."

The Rangers had a two-man advantage for 18 seconds about seven minutes into the third, but came up empty.

Zibanejad, standing on the left doorstep, then redirected Mats Zuccarello's shot from the left circle past Halak for his 14th goal, making it 5-2 at 9:05. Zuccarello got his 200th career assist on the play.

Hickey restored the Islanders' four-goal lead when his centering pass to Beauvillier from the right side deflected in off Zuccarello's skate with 3:52 left. Clutterbuck made it 7-2 with his eighth of the season and fourth goal in the last four games with 1:05 remaining.

"I was really impressed with our lineup right through," Weight said "It was an excellent win."

The Islanders grabbed control with four straight goals after Hayes tied it at 1 at 14:25 of the first.

Prince scored his first goal of the season two minutes after Hayes' power-play goal. The Isles then scored three more in the second.

Barzal made it 3-1 just 37 seconds into the period on a backhander past Pavelec and into the top right corner. He then scored his 15th of the season when he knocked in the rebound of his own shot at 4:11.

Beauvillier got his second of the game and seventh of the season when he beat Pavelec from the left circle at 6:51. The Rangers then pulled Pavelec and sent in Lundqvist, drawing cheers from the crowd and chants of "Hen-rik! Hen-rik!"

NOTES: LW Michael Dal Colle made his NHL debut for the Islanders. ... Injured forwards Josh Bailey, selected to his first All-Star appearance earlier in the week, and Andrew Ladd were out of the Islanders' lineup for the second straight game. ... Islanders F Casey Cizikas left with an upper-body injury in the second period. Weight said Cizikas' status was "not great" and he would not travel with the team to Montreal. ... The Islanders won 4-3 in a shootout at MSG on Oct. 19. The teams play two more times - both at Barclays Center - on Feb. 15 and April 5. ... The Rangers scored a power-play goal for the third time in five games, but are just 3 for 30 over their last 10 games.

UP NEXT

Rangers: At Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Islanders: At Montreal on Monday night.

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Karlsson's third period goal lifts Vegas past Rangers, 2-1

By W.G. RAMIREZ
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The first time they met, the New York Rangers were introduced to an expansion Vegas Golden Knights team that was riddled with goaltender injuries and just 10 games into the season.

That was on Oct. 31, when New York erased rallied from two goals down to beat fourth-string goalie Max Lagace in a 6-4 victory. On Sunday night, the Rangers met a matured Golden Knights team that was looking to get even.

William Karlsson scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period to lift Vegas to a 2-1 victory over New York in front of a season-high 18,234 in attendance.

"At the beginning (of the season) we were having some collapses in the third, and that's not happening anymore," Karlsson said. "I think we're a better team than we were at the start. I think we're more complete. We have a solid four lines and our D pairs are great. Obviously, the goaltending has been awesome, too. We're just a more complete team now."

James Neal also scored his 18th goal of the season, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots to improve to 9-2-1.

Now at the halfway point of their inaugural campaign, the Golden Knights own the top home record in the league, moving to 18-2-1 in the first 21 contests at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas is 9-0-1 in its last 10 at home, including seven straight wins.

"We're beating good hockey teams and we're playing good hockey," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "Tonight, we played a real good Ranger team. ... We stayed patient, we found a way to score late in the hockey game and win a big game."

Behind excellent puck movement on the game-winner, defenseman Deryk Engelland found Jonathan Marchessault with a blueline-to-blueline pass. Marchessault then pushed the puck forward to Reilly Smith, who found Karlsson at the right dot for a one-timer for his team-high 22nd of the season.

"Obviously I have Marchessault and Smith on my wings, so with them it's been really great," Karlsson said. "I have to thank them a lot. They've been great, and it's so easy to play with them."

Fleury turned in another spectacular performance, allowing two or fewer goals for the fifth consecutive time, while coming up with several big saves down the stretch.

"Our defensive players have been great, blocking shots and helping me out with rebounds and letting me see the puck. It's a good team effort," Fleury said. "Those are the kinds of games we're going to see later on in the season toward the end. We're finding ways to win those games. It's important, it's good for the confidence and it's good to know we can do that."

Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers and Ondrej Pavelec, making his 10th appearance of the season, finished with 32 saves.

"It's tough. We lost a game we wanted to win before the break, but we battled hard," Pavelec said. "I think we played a good third period and had some chances. But you can't be happy because we lost ... and that's all that matters."

Since the start of last season, New York is 14-7-0 in the second game of a back-to-back set. The Rangers, who lead the NHL in road wins since the start of last season with 34, were coming off a shootout victory at Arizona on Saturday night, when Henrik Lundqvist stopped 38 of 39 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and all three attempts in the shootout.

New York got on the board first when Zibanejad got his 13th of the season with a wrist shot that beat Fleury on the glove side.

Less than four minutes later, Neal capitalized on a turnover in the attacking zone, to the right of Pavelec, beating him top shelf with a wrist shot that tied the score.

Both teams now enter their bye weeks, and despite the loss, the Rangers enter the break 7-4-3 in their last 14 games.

For the Western Conference leaders, Gallant said it's time off his players have been talking about.

"We're ready for a week off, the guys are looking forward to it," Gallant said. "We push them all the time. They competed, they battled hard and we're at the halfway mark tonight, and the team's played really well. We gotta have a good break and get away from hockey for a while, come back on Friday and get back to practice and get ready for Saturday's game."

NOTES: Rangers C Mats Zuccarello is just one assist away from 200 in his NHL career. ... Engelland remains one point away from 100. ... Karlsson leads Vegas with 22 goals, Marchessault is tops with 40 points and tied with David Perron with a team-high 24 assists.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Golden Knights: Host Edmonton on Saturday night.

Sharp breaks tie in third, Blackhawks beat Rangers 5-2

By SCOTT CHARLES
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) – Jeff Glass is starting to get comfortable in goal for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Glass, the 32-year old rookie who bounced around the hockey world before finally reaching the NHL last month, made 23 saves to lead Chicago to a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

"This is my chance right now," Glass said after securing his second career NHL victory. "We played a strong game as a unit, I just did my part. It was a lot of fun out there."

Patrick Sharp broke a tie early in the third period as the Blackhawks concluded a six-game trip. Nick Schmaltz, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane also scored

"Contributing offensively is to be expected from every line," Sharp said. "We're more than capable of doing it but more than anything, I thought we played real stingy tonight and didn't give up a whole lot so that was one of the keys tonight."

Nick Holden and Mika Zibanejad scored for New York in the Rangers' second regulation loss at home since Nov. 28.

New York struggled to get through the neutral zone most of the evening and only converted one power play chance on six opportunities in their first game back since the Winter Classic at Citi Field.

"I saw one team playing hockey and the other chasing the whole night," Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. "It's really disappointing. We know we are coming off a big emotional win and a big stage but we're almost at the halfway point of the season where we need to start playing with some consistency and we didn't give ourselves a chance there. They were able to do whatever they wanted. We didn't finish checks, slow them down, their speed. They had time and space and we left our goalie out to dry."

Glass, a well-traveled hockey veteran has played on six Kontinental Hockey League teams and three American Hockey League teams before being called up on Dec. 27 when Corey Crawford was placed on injured reserve.

"I think Glasser came in and gave us a little jolt of personality and energy," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. "After coming out of three tough games going into the break, coming out of it not the way you want to be playing on the road. We'll go back home, we showed a lot better of an effort. I liked the response, the way we finished up the trip."

Sharp, a three-time Cup winner with Chicago who returned this season after spending the previous two years in Dallas, scored at 2:24 of the third when his wrist shot sailed past goalie Henrik Lundqvist's glove.

"I saw a lot of good things, a lot of the speed in the game," Joel Quenneville said. "We got to a lot of pucks first. We did a lot of good things, we were more disciplined than we've been in maybe any other game. We found a way to kill some big penalties."

Hinostroza opened the scoring with 3:51 left in the first period. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Toews retrieved a loose puck in the corner and slipped a backhand pass to Hinostroza.

The Rangers tied it two minutes later when Nick Holden fired a slap shot from the right point past Glass.

Chicago took a 2-1 lead midway through the second when Nick Schmaltz converted a breakaway. Rangers defenseman, Marc Staal, inadvertently put the puck in his own net before knocking the net off the moorings.

Zibanejad tied it on a one-timer with 7:28 to go in the period.

"They were better," Lundqvist said after his 30 save performance. "They started the game better, they had more jump. It felt like a lot of their chances came from odd-man rushes, hard to defend. They have a lot of patient players."

NOTES:

New York scratched defenseman Steven Kampfer and forward Vinni Lettieri. ... Chicago scratched defensemen Michal Kempny and Jan Rutta, and forward Richard Panik.

UP NEXT:

Rangers: At Arizona on Saturday night.

Blackhawks: Host Vegas on Friday night.

Miller's OT goal lifts Rangers past Sabres in Winter Classic

By VIN A. CHERWOO
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — J.T. Miller was in the perfect spot in front of the goal to take advantage of a rebound in overtime and keep the New York Rangers perfect in four regular season outdoor games.

Miller scored a power-play goal 2:43 into the extra period to lift the Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday in the NHL’s 10th Winter Classic at Citi Field.

The Rangers went on the power play 2:15 into overtime when Jacob Josefson was whistled for tripping Jimmy Vesey. On the winner, Kevin Shattenkirk fired a shot that rebounded right to Miller, who put it in.

“Fortunate to get a good shot to the net,” Miller said. “Not too often they come right on the stick like that.”

Paul Carey and Michael Grabner scored in the first period for the Rangers, who improved to a league-best 4-0 in outdoor games during the season. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 31 shots to help New York improve to 6-2-3 in its last 11 overall.

“We talked about going into this game there’s no way you’re going to look back at this as a great memory if you don’t win,” said Lundqvist, who is 4-0-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average outdoors. “Now we got a big win and we can always look back at this game as a great experience.”

Rasmus Ristolainen had a goal and an assist, Sam Reinhart also scored and Kyle Okposo had two assists for the Sabres. Robin Lehner finished with 39 saves for Buffalo, which has just 10 wins this season but is 4-3-5 in its last 12 games.

“The first 10 minutes were not very good, we were kind of dipping our toe in,” Okposo said. “Once we calmed down and played our game, we played well. So I’m proud of the guys, proud of the way we played.”

The game, played at the home of baseball’s New York Mets, was on the 10th anniversary of the Sabres’ 2-1 shootout loss to Pittsburgh in Buffalo in the first Winter Classic. This was also the league’s 24th regular season outdoor game.

Lundqvist made a sensational save on an attempt by Zemgus Girgensons with 2:12 remaining to keep the score tied.

“It was a fun game to play,” Lundqvist said. “Overall, I thought we were the better team, but we took a lot of penalties that put us on our heels a little bit.”

The national anthem was performed by the Every Voice Choirs, a New York City-based group of children born in 2008, the year of the first Winter Classic. The Goo Goo Dolls, a rock band that started in the Buffalo area, performed during the first intermission.

Despite the official temperature at puck drop at 20.5 degrees, the game drew a sellout crowd of 41,821.

“It was loud, the crowd was behind both teams,” Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said. “It was great for us to find a way to come through in overtime.”

There was a shadow across about half the ice lengthwise at the start of the game. By the middle of the opening period, the shadow was at least partially covering about two-thirds of the ice, with the team benches in sun along the outfield edge and facing where home plate usually sits. The playing surface was completely in the shade at the start of the second period, except for the side boards to Lehner’s right on the first base side of the field.

The Sabres trailed 2-0 after one period before Reinhart cut the deficit in half 56 seconds into the second period on a rebound of Ristolainen’s shot.

Shortly before that, Lehner made a stellar stop on a short-handed breakaway by Grabner that would’ve given the Rangers a three-goal lead.

The Sabres tied it 27 seconds into the third as Ristolainen fired a wrist shot off a pass from Ryan O’Reilly.

“We got the momentum back,” Lehner said. “We start working hard, they start taking penalties. We got back to the game. Unfortunately we got a penalty there (in overtime).”

New York got on the scoreboard at 4:09 of the first as Carey got a pass from Jesper Fast and fired it past Lehner from straightaway.

Grabner made it 2-0 at 8:20. Marc Staal sent the puck of Lehner’s back as he spun around and skated past the left side of the goal, and it came to Grabner at the right side and he put it in for his 18th of the season.

NOTES: Lundqvist also got his 423rd career victory, tying Tony Esposito for eighth place all-time on the NHL’s career list. ... Lundqvist, McDonagh and Staal have played in each of the Rangers’ four regular season outdoor games. ... Buffalo LW Benoit Pouliot played in his fifth outdoor game, tying Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brad Richards, Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews for the most. Pouliot previously appeared in two Heritage Classic games — for Montreal on Feb. 20, 2011, and Edmonton on Oct. 23, 2016 — and the Rangers’ Stadium Series games in Jan. 2014. ... The Sabres gave up a home game to be in this one since the Rangers are contractually obligated to play all their home games at Madison Square Garden for a tax exemption. ... Rangers coach Alain Vigneault earned his 635th win, breaking a tie with Darryl Sutter for sole possession of 11th place on the NHL’s all-time list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Host Chicago on Wednesday night

Sabres: At Minnesota on Thursday night in the fifth game of a stretch of seven straight away from Buffalo.

Kreider out indefinitely for Rangers

Forward Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers is out indefinitely because of a blood clot in his right arm.

Kreider left the Rangers' 1-0 shootout victory against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday with 22 seconds remaining in the first period because of what coach Alain Vigneault said was an upper-body injury. He played seven shifts totaling 5:04 of ice time and had two shots on goal.

Vigneault said Thursday that Kreider felt swelling in his arm before the game but was cleared to play after being examined by doctors. After the first period the swelling had increased and Kreider was sent to the hospital, where testing discovered the blood clot.

Kreider is tied for fourth on the Rangers in scoring with 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 37 games.

The Rangers recalled forward Vinni Lettieri from Hartford of the American Hockey League. Lettieri, 22, has 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) in 31 games.

The Rangers play at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, MSG, NHL.TV) and then play the Buffalo Sabres in the 2018 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Citi Field in New York on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV).

Boyle leads Devils to 4-3 win over rival Rangers in shootout

By TOM CANAVAN
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Brian Boyle didn't take any extra satisfaction in playing a big role against the New York Rangers, his former team.

The satisfaction came from giving the New Jersey Devils a big win in a rivalry game that had a playoff atmosphere.

Boyle continued his remarkable comeback from cancer by scoring the tying goal in the third period and the game-winner in a shootout as the Devils overcame a season-high 45 saves by Henrik Lundqvist in a 4-3 victory Thursday night.

Boyle has been on a tear. He has nine goals and six assists this season, including three goals and four assists in the last three games, all Devils wins.

"I'd like to have them every night," Boyle said when asked about his emotions. "I play a little bit better and tonight was against a rivalry team and a team that has played some great hockey the last two months. We're out to prove we're legit and we have to earn that every single night."

The Devils are doing that. They had the worst record in the Eastern Conference last season, but are currently 20-9-5 and tied for the second-most points in the conference.

After a slow start, the Rangers are three points behind the Devils, who have played one fewer game.

"It's critical, try to push them down, even by a point," said New Jersey goalie Cory Schneider, who made 25 saves plus pivotal shootout stops on Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Shattenkirk. "We still have a lot of hockey left, but this one feels good."

John Moore and Blake Coleman also scored in regulation, and Kyle Palmieri converted in a four-round shootout for the Devils.

Vesey, Nick Holden and Kevin Hayes scored for the Rangers, who had won three in a row. Mika Zibanejad had a goal in the shootout.

Boyle tied the game at 3 with 8:06 left in regulation on a power-play goal on a whirling backhander in close.

Hayes had given the Rangers the lead earlier in the period, banking a pass from behind the net off the skate of New Jersey defenseman Damon Severson past Schneider.

Lundqvist was the only reason the game was tied 2-all after two periods. He stopped 36 of 38 shots in the first 40 minutes, including 22 of 23 in the second period. The only one that got past him was a short-handed wrist shot by Coleman on a 2-on-1 break with 3:33 left in the period.

The goal came a little more than a minute after an apparent tying goal by Nico Hischier was waved off because of a cross-checking penalty on Palmieri in front of the Rangers net.

"Thinking back on the first two periods, we did everything we could to lose that game," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "There was one player who wouldn't let us lose it and that was Hank. He played unreal."

New York built a 2-1 lead in the first period despite being outshot 15-10. Vesey tied it 1-all at 9:55, scoring off a scramble in front of Schneider. Holden put the Rangers ahead a little more than two minutes later, lifting the rebound of Chris Kreider's shot over Schneider.

Moore opened the scoring at 7:22, beating Lundqvist with a shot over his shoulder after being set up by Hischier.

Lundqvist was concerned about the Rangers' effort in what he called a big game.

"We still found a way to get a point in a game where we didn't do that many good things," Lundqvist said. "You have to give Jersey credit. They played really well. They had good speed. The biggest thing is I felt like they wanted it more."

NOTES: Holden's goal was his first in 20 games. ... Moore played in his 400th NHL game. Devils teammate Brian Gibbons played in his 100th game. ... Devils rookie Jesper Bratt was scratched with a foot injury. ... New Jersey LW Marcus Johansson returned to the lineup after missing four games with an ankle injury. ... The Rangers have earned at least one point in six of their last seven games (4-1-2) and in 22 of their last 29 games (18-7-4).

UP NEXT

Rangers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Devils: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

Carey, Lundqvist carry Rangers past Ducks

NEW YORK -- It was another slow start for the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, as the Anaheim Ducks dominated from the start to nearly the finish.

Henrik Lundqvist and Paul Carey, however, made sure the Rangers would never trail as New York went on to its third straight victory.

Lundqvist stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first period and 39 of 40 overall, while Carey scored the first of his two goals in the finals seconds of the opening period as the Rangers handled a strong effort from the Ducks in a 4-1 victory.

Carey entered the game with two goals on the season and without a two-goal game in his career, and he left with a career night that doubled his season total.

"It's a big night. It was a lot of fun," said Carey, who had one goal in 32 career games before this season. "I was trying to get that third one. It's nice to get rewarded. Our line has been playing really well and working really hard. It's nice to see some pucks go in."

Carey was part of a fourth line with David Desharnais, who assisted on both Carey goals, and Jimmy Vesey that looked anything like a checking line against the Ducks. Desharnais delivered a saucer pass on his backhand to a streaking Carey with 45.5 seconds left in the first period to break the scoreless tie, then found Carey again in the second period for a goal that made it 3-0.

On the first goal, Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf was caught flat-footed in the neutral zone and allowed Carey to slide to the front of the net unchecked.

"It was my fault, 100 percent," Getzlaf said. "I have to move my feet in the neutral zone and I yelled at (defenseman Francois Beauchemin) at the last minute out of desperation for help. That's not on him; that's on me."

The Rangers' barrage of goals -- which also included Kevin Hayes scoring 38 seconds into the second period -- would not have been possible if not for Lundqvist's brilliance in the early part of the contest.

With the game scoreless in the first period, Lundqvist denied Ducks forward Rickard Rakell on a breakaway, then stopped 10 more shots after Hayes made it 2-0, including a couple of tough deflection chances around his net, before Carey scored the Rangers' third goal.

"That's your job as a goalie, to be there when things are not going great," Lundqvist said. "When your team's rolling, usually as a goalie, you don't have to do much. If I get to be there in the first period and make a couple of good saves, then I know it's going to turn around. I've been in so many games where you play a team and they're flying. We're just trying to find our legs a little bit. And we did."

Lundqvist lost his shutout bid with 5:17 remaining when Ondrej Kase beat him between the legs with a wrist shot but Michael Grabner's 17th goal of the season less than two minutes later restored the three-goal lead after video review determined Rakell's diving attempt to knock the puck out of mid-air occurred after the puck had crossed the goal.

While the Rangers (19-12-3) have won three straight and have been surging of late, the Ducks (14-13-8) have dropped three in a row and are scrambling to stay close to the pack in the Western Conference playoff chase.

"You look at their goals," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said, "one was from the crease, another was a goal from a guy coming off the bench. The Grabner goal was off an odd-man rush. It was a rebound he got a second opportunity on. Those are defendable goals. Because we're in a funk right now as far as providing offense, every little mistake is huge right now."

The Rangers have 11 goals in their past three games and have a showdown with the division-leading New Jersey Devils looming Thursday. With Lundqvist on top of his game after a tough start to the season, the Rangers are heading in the right direction.

"I feel really good," said Lundqvist, who has a .928 save percentage in his past 18 starts. "I feel like the team is playing really well and that's helpful. I can focus on the shooter a lot. It's a big thing for me to commit to the shooter a lot more, feeling that support from the guys around me. I think the last month and a half I have been feeling really good."

NOTES: Ducks D Brandon Montour was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. The 23-year-old has six goals and 16 points in 33 games this season. ... Ducks D Francois Beauchemin took Montour's place in the lineup and played 16:47. ... Rangers C Mika Zibanejad (concussion) played in his first game since Nov. 26. He had one shot in 13:32 of ice time. ... Rangers C Boo Nieves and D Steven Kampfer were scratched.

Rangers C Zibanejad set to return vs. Ducks

Stats, LLC

NEW YORK -- Mika Zibanejad is expected to return to the lineup when the New York Rangers host the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

When Zibanejad left the lineup with a concussion in late-November, he was the Rangers leading scorer and driving force on team's top power-play unit.

The Rangers are 5-3-1 without Zibanejad and have averaged 3.1 goals per game over that time.

The power play, however, is just 5-for-27 (18.5 percent) in Zibanejad's absence, which is about four points below the season average prior to Zibanejad's injury. But he was back at practice Monday and expects to be ready to go against the Ducks.

"It's obviously tough to be out and tough to watch, but always fun, too, to come back," Zibanejad said to Newsday. "I think this is the right time. We took it step by step, and it was another step (Monday) to practice on my line. So far so good."

Zibanejad's role on the power play is on the left side, where his right-handed shot is used to one-time pucks from the face-off circle. But the Rangers lacked a suitable replacement, which meant defenses didn't have to worry about one-timers from that side of the ice with the Rangers deploying four left-handed shots and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.

"I think he just makes our power play so much more dangerous instantly," Shattenkirk said to Newsday. "He's a huge weapon on that side, not only the way he shoots the puck, but he makes a lot of poise plays as well that seem to calm everything down when we need it. He does the same thing five-on-five."

The Rangers (18-12-3) are coming off back-to-back wins over the weekend while the Ducks (14-12-8) lost 5-3 in New Jersey on Monday night to the Devils, marking the first time the Ducks failed to earn a point since Dec. 1.

That statistic doesn't necessarily indicate a hot streak, as the Ducks were 3-0-4 before losing to the Devils.

The Ducks squandered a 2-0 first-period lead against the Devils and rank 30th in the league in points percentage when leading after the first period and 29th when leading after two periods.

Holding leads has been a problem all season for the Ducks, who will face a rested Rangers team that has the seventh-best record this season when trailing after two periods.

"I think we stopped skating and then we stopped sharing the puck," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "I thought we had opportunities to move the puck effectively in the second period and we didn't."

"They kept coming," said Ducks center Adam Henrique, who scored a highlight-reel goal in his first game against the Devils since last month's trade to Anaheim. "We sat back in the second half of the game. We just have to manage that a little better."

For all of their struggles holding leads this season, the Ducks are 3-0-3 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.

"We have to have more energy and play better than we did the last two periods, that's going to be our goal," Carlyle said. "If we focus on that, play for 60 minutes, we think we're going to be a pretty effective hockey club."

Senators hold off Rangers, snap five-game slide

OTTAWA -- Craig Anderson ended a personal drought that covered seven games and one month, but the Ottawa Senators goalie was more interested in talking about his team than himself.

The Senators' second win in 14 games put everyone on the Ottawa side in a better mood. Ottawa snapped a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday at Canadian Tire Centre.

"Coming home, putting on the effort we did and getting the results we wanted, it's a good feeling in here," Anderson said after posting his first victory since Nov. 11. "It's always good to win. It kind of fixes everything. Kind of puts everyone in a good mood, and you can live with mistakes a lot easier than when you lose."

Along with Anderson's 27-save performance, Bobby Ryan and Zack Smith both scored their second goal of the season for the Senators (10-13-7). Defenseman Cody Ceci added his fourth of the season, his second in two games.

"You hope it snaps the funk, but we recognized we needed to get some offense from guys, and some other guys stepped up as well," Ryan, who added an assist, said when asked about his personal struggles. "Less than 24 hours from getting home from a 15-day trip to get two points is huge."

The Rangers (16-12-3) lost their second game in a row and fell for the third time in the past four (1-2-1).

Michael Grabner's 15th of the season and Pavel Buchnevich's 11th accounted for the New York scoring. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 stops and became the 15th goalie in NHL history to record 20,000 saves.

The key goal of the game was scored by Smith, only eight seconds into the third period to give Ottawa a 3-1 lead.

"I was rewarded for losing the draw (to start the period)," he said. "And Tom (Pyatt) did the rest. He grinded it out down the boards and put a perfect pass right on my tape."

Rangers center J.T. Miller shouldered the blame

"It sucks, especially it was my guy," he said. "You can't set the tone for the period when you're down a goal like that. That's something that doesn't happen often. It's kind of a weird play. You wish it didn't happen."

Being down against the Senators in the third period is not an enviable position to be in, according to Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh.

"(Ottawa) is a frustrating team to play against," McDonagh said. "It's a style, everyone is aware of it. They have a lot of numbers back. The only thing I can pinpoint is our decision-making with the puck. Every time you play this team, it's about getting through the neutral zone, and they created a little more turnovers than we want when we play this team."

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault thought his team should have been more focused to start periods one and three.

"We gave up an early goal in the first, we gave up an early goal in the third," he said. "We know this team well, we know how they defend. There are some plays in front of you that you have to make, and their first two goals, we didn't make the plays through the neutral zone and they came back to make us pay.

"There's no doubt that goal early in the third really hurt us."

The Senators said the Ryan goal was large, as it was the first time they jumped on top first in six games.

"Playing with the lead is a lot different than trying to chase the game," Anderson said. "You kind of stick with the program a little longer, especially when things don't go the way you want them to go. You're quick to fall off the beaten path. I think when you get the lead, even if they score and tie it up, you still stay on that path to get to your results."

Before the game, Senators general manager Pierre Dorion talked about how he still had faith in his team, despite the fact it was seven points out of a playoff spot. He also gave a vote of confidence to coach Guy Boucher, saying no changes would be made behind the bench.

"Since the beginning, we've had a great solid relationship," Boucher said later of Dorion's comments. "It's about trusting each other. It's easy in life to say you back up somebody when things go well. Anybody can do that. It's when things don't go well and everybody panics and that's when we see who people are. I know who he is."

NOTES: Senators F Alex Burrows was a healthy scratch. .... Rangers C Mika Zibanejad (concussion) practiced with the team as a defenseman Tuesday but did not travel to Ottawa. ... The Senators sent D Ben Harpur to their AHL affiliate in Belleville on Wednesday and recalled F Nick Paul. ... The Senators' next game is Saturday, when the play host to the NHL 100 Classic outdoors game at TD Place against the Montreal Canadiens. ... The Rangers' next game is Friday at home against the Los Angeles Kings.

Stars outlast Rangers in shootout

NEW YORK -- All night, the Dallas Stars produced one odd-man rush after another and a steady stream of shots.

For most of Monday night's visit to Madison Square Garden, those shots turned into frustrating experiences and, in the estimation of the Stars, not getting two points would have been the biggest disappointment.

Ultimately, the Stars would not have to deal with the disappointment, thanks to Jason Spezza, who scored the decisive goal in the third round of the shootout in a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers.

The Stars took 45 shots on Rangers backup goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, but only Julius Honka scored in the second period. Overall, 16 of 18 skaters registered shots on goal, including stars Jaime Benn and Tyler Seguin, who combined for 13 shots.

"I would have been ashamed not to get two points in this game, the way we played," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said after his team came within one of its season-high for shots on goal.

After a wild and fast-paced overtime, Spezza helped Dallas snap its second three-game losing streak of the streak of the season when he sped in and lifted a backhander over Pavelec's right shoulder.

"I think it was a dig deep win for us," said Spezza, who was one of two Dallas skaters not to get a shot on goal. "It's no secret we got challenged after the tough week we had, coming into a tough building against a team that's been playing well.

"That's hopefully something we can build off. We would have liked to have won it in regulation, yeah but to get the two points, it's a West vs. East game. We'll take the two points and move on."

Alexander Radulov scored in the first round of the shootout for Dallas (17-13-1), getting his goal after he fell near mid-ice.

New York's Mats Zuccarello scored in the first round of the shootout but David Desharnais and Kevin Shattenkirk were unable to score for the Rangers (16-11-3).

Kari Lehtonen finished with 24 saves. Pavelec stopped 44 shots.

Before Spezza's game-winner, Rick Nash forced overtime by scoring his eighth goal of the season on a deflection with 3:41 remaining in regulation. The Stars were not fazed and eventually recorded the win after getting outscored 15-5 in their previous three games.

"We were playing really well," Spezza said. "We felt like we deserved to win the game and sometimes breaks are going to happen, and we got one against us."

Dallas held such a wide margin in shots that the Rangers didn't get their 10th shot until late in the second period when Paul Carey's shot earned sarcastic cheers from the crowd.

"I think everyone in here knows that was embarrassing for two periods," Zuccarello said. "They smacked us around and we didn't win one battle, we didn't win a puck battle in front of the net. We weren't first on the pucks. It's not acceptable for the team that we are supposed to be."

The Rangers matched their third-lowest shot total of the season and, also did not get a power play for the first time this season.

"We weren't first on any pucks," Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "We talked beforehand that the team was coming in they were going to be desperate and we had to match it. We didn't do that."

The Stars broke through on their 20th shot with 13:30 remaining in the middle period. After Rangers defenseman Nick Holden turned the puck over to Radek Faksa in the left corner, Benn gained possession along the boards and passed it to Esa Lindell, who was near the left point. Lindell made a cross-ice pass to Honka, who lifted a slap shot from near the right circle above Pavelec's right arm and off the right post.

New York capitalized on an errant clearing attempt by goaltender Kari Lehtonen and tied the game in the third. Nash jostled for position in the crease with Dallas defenseman Greg Pateryn and deflected Brady Skjei's wrist shot from the point into the net. Dallas challenged, but after a brief review, officials ruled that Nash did not commit goaltender interference.

The game stayed tied when Spezza shot wide with about three minutes remaining in overtime. Lehtonen then robbed Jesper Fast with his glove on an attempt from near the crease with 81 seconds left in overtime.

The Rangers nearly won it with about 30 seconds left, but McDonagh fanned on a shot. Shortly after, Pavelec made a stick save on Seguin, and the game headed for the shootout.

NOTES: New York C Mika Zibanejad (concussion) missed his sixth consecutive game, though he participated in the morning skate. Zibanejad said he is feeling better, but he will not be cleared until he participates in a full practice, coach Alain Vigneault said. ... Dallas C Martin Hanzal (hamstring) missed his seventh straight game but is on the trip. ... Stars LW Antoine Roussel sat out the game after injuring his elbow Saturday in a loss to Vegas. ... Dallas C Jason Dickinson appeared in his fifth game of the season and first since Nov. 14. ... G Ondrej Pavelec is the first Rangers goaltender to make 40 or more saves in two consecutive appearances since Dan Blackburn on Nov. 23, 2001 at Washington and Dec. 1, 2001, at Montreal.

Rangers stop Penguins in key division game

PITTSBURGH -- The Metropolitan Division has been bunched up from the start, so even though the season is only about a third of the way through, the New York Rangers sounded as if Tuesday night's 4-3 division victory over defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh came in the stretch run.

"It's a really important game for us, even though it's early in the year," said Rangers center J.T. Miller, who had an assist. "A character win is a good way to put it."

Pavel Buchnevich scored the deciding goal at PPG Paints Arena as New York halted the Penguins' four-game winning streak.

"There's no doubt that tonight's a big win against the Stanley Cup champions," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.

Buchnevich attempted a pass across the slot, but the puck hit the leg of Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang and sailed over the glove of Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry at 11:12 of the third to break a 3-3 tie.

Letang called it simply "a bad bounce on our part," and Jarry felt about the same.

"It's tough," said Jarry, who made 25 saves but had his four-game winning streak end. He has been filling in for the injured Matt Murray.

"It's one of those unfortunate events that just goes off our own player. I tried to do my best just to get up as quick as I could and try and get over. It just went right past my head. I wasn't able to get over there."

Ondrej Pavelec, who was pegged to start in net when Henrik Lundqvist developed a flu-like illness, stopped 41 shots for the Rangers (15-10-2), who have won six of their past seven and 12 of 15.

"It was a good hockey game," said Pavelec, who withstood a good deal of pressure in the waning moments with an empty Pittsburgh net for his first win since Oct. 26. "Not so much fun for the goalies, but we got the win. That's huge for us."

The Penguins (15-11-3) took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on goals by Conor Sheary and Phil Kessel, but New York answered fairly quickly both times with goals by rookie Boo Nieves and Jesper Fast before a goal by Mats Zuccarello late in the second gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead.

Pittsburgh's Patric Hornqvist forged another tie, 3-3, in the third.

Although New York dominated much of the first, including a 10-4 shot edge, the Penguins broke through first.

Sheary converted a big backhand shovel of a pass through a crowded slot from Hornqvist at 15:13 for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead.

The Rangers tied it 1:36 later on Nieves' first NHL goal, a shot from the top of the right circle that made it through traffic and under Jarry's pads.

Vigneault noted that Pavelec "didn't have a lot of work in the first but did have quite a few shots after that. They're high-volume shots. They shoot from everywhere and hope to create scrambles. Against that you've got to protect the front of your net and we did that fairly well. He did give us a real strong game. I'm really happy for him. He's put in a lot of work and sure there's going to be a few more of those to come."

Kessel scored his team-leading 13th goal at 7:11 of the second for a 2-1 Penguins lead when he took a feed from Jake Guentzel and scored from the right circle.

New York tied it once more at 12:26 of the second on a Fast rebound goal.

The Rangers took their first lead, 3-2, at 17:20 of the second when Zuccarello moved in on Jarry and found a sliver of room inside the left post.

Pittsburgh went into the third trailing despite outshooting New York 23-8 in the second, and tied it 3-3 when Evgeni Malkin sprang Hornqvist for a breakaway on a power play. Hornqvist beat Pavelec to the glove side at 3:35.

That gave Hornqvist a four-game goal streak and a six-game point streak.

"This was a huge game for us," Hornqvist said. "All the division games are going to be key games, already right now.

"We know that's a tough loss, but our effort was there. We played a good hockey game. Sometimes you've got to tip the hat a little bit for the Rangers. They played hard. They got the puck luck."

NOTES: Pittsburgh D Justin Schultz limped off late in the first, returned for the second but did not come out for the third. Coach Mike Sullivan said Schultz has a lower-body injury and will be evaluated Wednesday. ... The Rangers recalled G Alexandar Georgiev, who backed up G Ondrej Pavelec with G Henrik Lundqvist ill. ... New York RW Michael Grabner played in his 500th NHL game. ... Pittsburgh G Matt Murray, who missed his third straight game because of a lower-body injury, has resumed skating without gear. ... In the annual Forbes Magazine financial ranking of NHL clubs, the Rangers are No. 1 with a value of $1.5 billion, up 14 percent, while the Penguins are No. 10 with a value of $650 million, up 20 percent.

Malgin’s late goal lifts Panthers to 5-4 win over Rangers

By VIN A. CHERWOO
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Denis Malgin helped the Florida Panthers avoid a bad loss and get consecutive wins for just the third time this season.

Malgin scored with 1:09 left and the Florida Panthers recovered after giving up two three-goal leads to beat the New York Rangers 5-4 Tuesday night.

Malgin — called up on Monday and playing in his seventh game for Florida this season — beat Rangers goalie Ondrej Pavelec from the inside edge of the left circle for his first of the season.

“I think he went down and it was his fourth game in five days,” said the Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau, who had a goal and an assist. “Then he comes up and scores the winning goal. That’s pretty impressive.”

Aleksander Barkov, Jamie McGinn and Micheal Haley also scored — all in the first period when Florida built a 3-0 lead — to help the Panthers win for the third time in four games. James Reimer finished with 33 saves.

“We found a way against a team that probably dominated us for the most part,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “It’s a nice feeling when you can find ways to win those games.”

Chris Kreider had two goals and an assist, Pavel Buchnevich added a goal and two assists, and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers, who snapped an eight-game winning streak at home and lost for just the third time in their last 13 games overall. David Desharnais had three assist to help New York tie it after trailing 3-0 and 4-1.

Rangers starter Henrik Lundqvist gave up three goals on six shots before he was pulled late in the first period. Pavelec came on and stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced.

“I wasn’t able to come up with one extra save,” Pavelec said. “It’s disappointing because we battled back. ... We were all over them and we were working hard to get back.”

New York was playing without defenseman and captain Ryan McDonagh for the fourth straight game, and leading-scorer Mika Zibanejad was a late scratch due to an upper body injury.

With Florida leading 4-3, Reimer denied a backhand attempt by Jimmy Vesey about 5 1/2 minutes into the third and Boo Nieves couldn’t convert on a pass in front. Rick Nash then hit a post about 9 minutes in.

“Obviously, that’s a really good team over there and they come in waves,” Reimer said. “It was just a great character win from our guys tonight.”

Kreider then tied it with his second goal of the game and 10th of the season with 6:32 remaining as he got a pass from Desharnais from the right side of the net and poked it past Reimer.

Miller pulled the Rangers to 3-1 at 4:04 of the second. Mats Zuccarello’s initial shot from the left side deflected off a Panthers defenseman’s stick and Miller fired it past Reimer for his fourth.

Huberdeau restored the Panthers’ three-goal lead about 4 1/2 minutes later as he beat Pavelec after a scramble in front.

The Rangers then scored twice in a 1:50 span to pull within one. First, Kreider came from behind the net on the right side and passed it in front to Buchnevich, who tapped it past Reimer from the left side for his ninth at 9:26. Buchnevich then sent a pass from the right side to a streaking Kreider in front and he beat Reimer for his ninth with 8:44 remaining in the middle period.

Kevin Hayes appeared to tie it with 4:11 to go in the second, but the officials waved off the goal for goaltender interference due to incidental contact by Nash on Reimer. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault challenged the interference call, but it stood after a video review.

“I think that we might have gotten a little bit of a break there,” Boughner said. “There was initial contact before the incidental contact, and I think that’s what they were concentrating on more than anything.”

Barkov got Florida on the scoreboard on a deflection of a shot by Huberdeau during a power play 5:50 into the game. It was his eighth and came on the Panthers’ first shot on goal.

McGinn doubled Florida’s lead at 9:34, firing a shot from outside the left circle past Lundqvist.

Haley made it 3-0 with 3:13 left from the left circle for his first of the season. Lundqvist, who started for the 13th straight game, was then pulled in favor of Pavelec.

NOTES: Kreider now has 99 goals and 99 assists in his career. ... New York won the first meeting, 5-4 in OT at Florida on Nov. 4. The teams will conclude the season series March 10 at Florida. ... Panthers D Keith Yandle played in his 658th consecutive game, moving 21 behind Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin for seventh place in NHL history. Yandle had two assists against his former team, giving him two goals and six assists in 13 games this month. ... After appearing in nine of the Panthers’ first 12 games, Reimer was playing for just the third time in 12 game since Nov. 2.

UP NEXT

Panthers: Host San Jose on Friday night to open a stretch of four of five at home.

Rangers: Host Carolina on Friday night to close a four-game homestand.

Jimmy Vesey lifts Rangers past Canucks in SO, 4-3

By SCOTT CHARLES
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The Rangers didn’t lead at any point until the seventh round of the shootout. The still managed to earn their fourth straight victory.

Jimmy Vesey scored the tying goal early in the third period and added the winner in the seventh round of a shootout to give New York a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

“We have to feel good about what we’ve been doing here the past four weeks,” Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said after his 417th career NHL victory. “We had a tough time but we got it done tonight with a really strong third. But we should definitely feel good about how we’re playing and finding ways to win games. That’s going to help us moving forward.”

Lundqvist made 29 saves to help the Rangers extend their home winning streak to eight games.

Vesey tied it at 5:05 of the third with a nifty forehand-backhand combination for his fifth goal of the season. Rick Nash set up the goal with a spinning pass.

“The third period was our best. It was a little bit of a slow start,” Rick Nash explained who assisted on Vesey’s third-period goal and scored in the shootout. “Good teams find ways to win when they don’t play their best. We found a way to do that.”

Jesper Fast and Michael Grabner also scored for New York. Loui Eriksson, Jake Virtanen and Sam Gagner scored for Vancouver, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 shots.

Grabner tied it 19 seconds into the third with his 10th goal of the season, beating Markstrom with a wrist shot. Gagner put the Canucks back in front 41 second later. Tomas Vanek forced a turnover behind the net and fed Gagner in the slot.

“They got one right back and that could hurt you, that can demoralize you,” Shattenkirk said about Gagne’s goal. “We gathered ourselves. We realized we had enough time left to just get one more goal. It didn’t feel as hard as a hill to climb like it was earlier in the game.”

Vancouver opened the scoring at 7:54 of the first when Eriksson snapped a wrist shot past Lundqvist. Rangers forward Paul Carey had trouble controlling an outlet pass from his teammate and turned over the puck. Canucks captain Henrik Sedin assisted to extend his points streak to four games. The Canucks outshot the Rangers 11-4 in the period.

The Canucks made it 2-0 at 7:21 of the second when Jake Virtanen fired a wrist shot over Lundqvist’s glove. The Rangers were unable to clear the puck from the defensive zone, Virtanen pulled it away from the boards and took an uncontested shot.

“We have to find ways to win these games when you’re up a couple goals,” Eriksson said. “It’s tough when they come back and win it like this. It’s something we need to do better.”

Fast scored with 2:20 left in the period on a redirection. Nick Holden earned an assist for his 99th NHL point.

It was only fitting that the Rangers played an extended shootout, 12 years to the day when Marek Malik tallied a creative shootout winner in the 15th round against the Washington Capitals. Lundqvist, in his rookie season, was between the pipes on that day for New York as well.

“I didn’t have it in my mind, that I was going to do it,” Shattenkirk said of the ‘Malik Deke’. “I was just talking to Marc Staal and he was getting a little nervous that he was going to have to go. I told him that if had, he would have had to pull off the Malik.”

NOTES:

Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh missed his third straight game with an abdominal strain. New York center Boo Nieves sat out because of a hip pointer. ... Grabner skated in his 497th game Sunday. Vanek and Grabner rank first and second, respectively, among Austrian-born players in games played, goals, assists, and points in NHL history. ... Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler skated in his 700th career NHL game. ... Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson missed his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Brandon Sutter suffered an injury against the Devils on Friday, and will miss the remainder of the trip.

UP NEXT:

Canucks: At New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Rangers: Host Florida on Tuesday night.