Rangers roll over Sabres

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 39 shots and Jimmy Vesey scored twice to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night in New York.

Neal Pionk also scored in the Rangers’ third straight win. New York rookie Brett Howden picked up his sixth assist of the season before leaving with an injury in the second period.

Lundqvist was stellar while picking up his fourth win of the season and 435th of his career, moving just two behind Jacaues Plante for seventh place on the NHL’s all-time list.

Connor Sheary scored for Buffalo and Carter Hutton made 19 saves.

The Rangers made the most of their first two shots in the middle period, scoring twice within 19 seconds.

Pionk scored 41 seconds into the period when his wrist shot sailed past Hutton. Vladislav Namestnikov and Mika Zibanejad assisted on the play. On the Rangers’ next shot, Vesey snapped off a wrist shot from the slot to make it 2-0. Howden made a nifty drop pass to set up his linemate.

LIGHTNING 4, SENATORS 3, OT: Yanni Gourde scored 14 seconds into overtime to lift Tampa Bay to a victory over Ottawa. Brayden Point tied the score with 27 seconds left in regulation on a two-man advantage off a pass from Tyler Johnson to send the game to the extra period. Point also had an assist on Gourde’s winner. KINGS FIRE COACH: The Los Angeles Kings fired head coach John Stevens 13 games into his second season in charge. Willie Desjardins will be the Kings’ interim head coach for the rest of the regular season. Los Angeles also fired assistant coach Don Nachbaur and hired former Kings forward Marco Sturm to replace him on Desjardins’ staff.