Lundqvist leads Rangers to shutout of Ducks
Caps blank 'Canes • Sabres subdue Sharks in OT • Flames tame Penguins • Leafs shoot down Stars
NEW YORK – Henrik Lundqvist was, as Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh declared, “in the zone.”
J.T. Miller simply called him “unreal for us.”
Those accolades, which have been repeated so often over the last decade, seemed apropos again on Tuesday night.
Lundqvist made a season-high 43 saves and helped the Rangers kill four penalties, including a crucial four-minute power play late in the second period, as the Blueshirts won their third straight game, dispatching the Anaheim Ducks, 4-1, at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers offense? Well, that’s another story. They blocked more shots (23) than they had on Ducks goaltender John Gibson (20.)
“I don’t think it was our best game,” Lundqvist said, “But we probably worked as hard as ever and it paid off. Big plays at the right time helped us tonight.”
Leading 2-1 in the third period, Miller skated along the left boards on a rush and threaded a pass through some sticks across to Michael Grabner, who ripped a high shot past Gibson for a two-goal cushion at 3:45. Grabner then added an empty-netter – on another pass from Miller – for his team-leading 25th of the season.
It was the third straight game with two assists for Miller, who seemed to take extra pride in the shot-blocking.
“Everybody’s blocking shots,” said Miller, who had four blocks. “You see that and everyone goes to bench feeling good. I thought tonight was a good example where we sacrificed the body as a team, which is why we won.” (Newsday/TNS)
Capitals 5, Hurricanes 0
Braden Holtby picked up his seventh shutout of the season, five players scored and the Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes.
Holtby stopped 23 shots in picking up his 30th career shutout.
Alex Ovechkin, Brett Connolly and Marcus Johansson each had a goal and an assist for Washington. Lars Eller and Evgeny Kuznetsov also had goals, and Matt Niskanen added two assists.
Sabres 5, Sharks 4 (OT)
Evander Kane scored 1:05 into overtime to lead Buffalo over San Jose.
Matt Moulson, Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo also scored for the Sabres. Anders Nilsson made 36 saves.
Joel Ward, Logan Couture, Melker Karlsson and Joe Pavelski scored for the Sharks. Martin Jones had 31 saves.
Flames 3, Penguins 2 (SO)
Kris Versteeg scored the only goal of the shootout as Calgary pushed past Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena.
Chad Johnson made 31 saves and Michael Frolik and Micheal Ferland scored for the Flames in regulation.
Chris Kunitz and Jake Guentzel scored for the Penguins.
Lightning 5, Kings 0
Two goals from Nikita Kucherov and superb goaltending from Ben Bishop led Tampa Bay over Los Angeles.
Braydon Coburn, Jonathan Drouin and Gabriel Dumont also scored for the Bolts.
Maple Leafs 3, Stars 1
Jake Gardiner scored a goal and added an assist, Curtis McElhinney made 39 saves as Toronto overcame Dallas.
Auston Matthews and Nikita Zaitsev also scored for the Maple Leafs.
Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars, who lost their third game in a row.
Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 2 (OT)
Seth Jones fired a high slap shot past Petr Mrazek at 3:22 of overtime to give Columbus a victory over Detroit.
Dylan Larkin and Thomas Vanek scored for the Red Wings while Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson had the regulation goals for the Blue Jackets.
Blues 6, Senators 0
St. Louis’ goaltender Jake Allen made 30 saves as the Blues posted their second shutout in 24 hours by blanking Ottawa.
Vladimir Tarasenko led the way for the Blues with two goals, while Ivan Barbashev, Alex Steen, Patrik Berglund and Magnus Paajarvi scored the others.
The Blues defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 on Monday.
Predators 4, Canucks 2
Filip Forsberg’s power-play slap shot at 9:04 of the third period was ruled a goal after a lengthy review, the key tally in Nashville’s win over Vancouver.
Pekka Rinne made 31 saves and Mike Fisher, Viktor Arvidsson and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Predators.
Alexander Edler and Vernon Fiddler scored for the Canucks.
Wild 4, Jets 2
Minnesota solidified its hold atop the Western Division with a victory over Winnipeg.
Jason Pominville and Nino Niederreiter had two goals each for the Wild, while Bryan Little and Joel Armia scored for the Jets.
Winnipeg had won three in a row but now has two straight losses. It was its first loss at home against a Central Division opponent this season (6-1-0).
Avalanche 4, Canadiens 0
Mikko Rantanen recorded the first hat trick of his career, and Calvin Pickard made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season as Colorado defeated Montreal.
Andres Martinsen also scored and Mark Barberio had two assists for the Avalanche.
Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog added two assists apiece for the Avalanche.
Carey Price recorded 22 saves for the Canadiens in a losing cause.