RANGERS TIE MARK
Notch 53rd win to match 2014-15 squad
RANGERS 5 CANADIENS 2
Mika Zibanejad scored two goals and added an assist, Artemi Panarin scored a goal with three assists, and the Rangers beat the Canadiens, 5-2, on Sunday night.
Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere also scored, and Igor Shesterkin stopped 26 shots to help the Rangers get their 53rd win to tie a franchise record set in 2014-15. The Rangers have won eight of their last nine games and 13 of the last 16 contests at home.
The Rangers’ 110 points lead Boston by three points for the most in the NHL. They are also five points up on Carolina for first in the Metropolitan Division. All three teams have four games remaining.
Cole Caulfield and Alex Newhook scored for Montreal, which has lost three straight. Mike Matheson notched two assists and Cayden Primeau finished with 41 saves.
Kreider tipped in Panarin’s shot 3:59 of the third to snap a 1-1 tie. It was Kreider’s 38th goal this season and his 109th career goal on the power play, moving him past Rod Gilbert for second-most in franchise history. Kreider has goals in five of his last six games.
Panarin then scored his team-leading 46th at 6:09 to put the Rangers ahead, 3-1. The 32-year-old Russian forward has 115 points, trailing only Jaromir Jagr’s 123 in 2005-06 for the most in franchise history.
Newhook made it 3-2 with 7:47 to go with his 13th.
Zibanejad scored his second of the night and 26th of the season with 3:04 remaining before Lafreniere completed the scoring with an empty-netter with 1:15 left for his career-high 27th.
Caufield opened the scoring with 30 seconds remaining in the first period, banking the puck off Shesterkin from behind the net. The goal was his 24th and came in Caufield’s 200th NHL game.
Zibanejad tied it with a power-play goal with 7:29 remaining in the second.
PREDATORS 3, DEVILS 2
Ryan O’Reilly scored the deciding shootout goal to lift the Predators over the Devils.
Roman Josi and Luke Evangelista scored for the Predators, and Filip Forsberg and O’Reilly each collected two assists.
Jack Hughes and Chris Tierney scored for the Devils in regulation.
Evangelista’s power-play goal with 7:15 left in the third period tied it, 2-2.
The Devils, who recorded a franchise-best 112 points last season, won for the second straight night, but are currently on the outside of a wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with four games remaining.