< Henrik Lundqvist
makes one of his 39 saves during the Rangers’ 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at Madison Square Garden.
Rangers 4, Ducks 1
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 39 shots, Paul Carey scored twice and New York beat the Anaheim on Tuesday night. Kevin Hayes and Michael Grabner also scored for New York, and Nick Holden and David Desharnais each had two assists. The Rangers have won three straight. Ondrej Kase scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight. John Gibson made 28 saves. The Ducks outshot the Rangers 16-10 in the first period and had several quality scoring opportunities. However, Lundqvist covered up a few defensive breakdowns, giving New York's offense time to get on track. The Rangers scored twice in 1:24 spanning the first intermission. Desharnais found a streaking Carey at 19:14 of the first period, and Hayes scored 38 seconds into the second for a 2-0 lead. Carey scored again at 13:00 of the middle frame. Desharnais stopped short near the hash marks and found Carey alone in the slot. Jimmy Vesey also assisted on the play. Desharnais had been playing well on the top line while center Mika Zibanejad missed nine games with a concussion, but Zibanejad returned Tuesday. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault slid Desharnais to the fourth line, but he still contributed and has nine points in his last 10 games. Grabner scored his 17th of the season at 16:37 of the third for a 4-1 lead. The speedy Austrian forward converted on his own rebound. The play was reviewed, but the referee's determined the puck completely crossed the goal line before an Anaheim defenseman batted the puck out of the air.
Bruins 3, Sabres 0
Jake DeBrusk scored for the second straight night, Anton Khudobin turned away 36 shots and Boston blanked Buffalo. Tim Schaller and David Backes added empty-net goals in the closing minutes of the game. After a 7-2 victory over Columbus on Monday, the Bruins beat the Sabres in a low-scoring affair to win for the seventh time in 10 games. The Sabres threatened to get on the board first in the second period, but Khudobin made a pad save on a shot from Evander Kane to keep the game scoreless. With 9:46 remaining in the period, DeBrusk carried the puck into the Sabres zone and fired a wrist shot over Robin Lehner's shoulder. DeBrusk has goals in consecutive games and four points in his last two. With less than two minutes remaining in the second, the Sabres narrowly missed capitalizing on two scoring chances. First, Kyle Okposo was late passing to Benoit Pouliot on an odd-man rush. Moments later, Pouliot had his shot blocked after Khudobin allowed a big rebound. Khudobin stopped all 10 Sabres shots in the third to earn his first shutout of the season. The Bruins are 8-3-2 when Khudobin starts this season.
Red Wings 6, Islanders 3
Trevor Daley scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Detroit beat New York for just its third win in 13 games. Martin Frk, Gustav Nyquist, Anthony Mantha, Mike Green and Luke Glendening also scored for the Red Wings, who entered 2-5-5 in their last 12. Henrik Zetterberg and Dylan Larkin each had three assists, and Petr Mrazek made 34 saves. The score was tied 3-all after two periods before Daley scored the tiebreaker into the top left corner with 9:57 left for his second goal of the season. Green scored into the top right corner to give the Red Wings a two-goal lead with 5:48 remaining, and Glendening added an empty-netter with 29 seconds left. Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee and Ryan Pulock also scored for the Islanders, who lost for the sixth time in their last eight games (2-5-1). John Tavares had two assists and Thomas Greiss stopped 16 shots.
Notes Islanders may be returning to suburbs
The New York Islanders hockey team may be returning to the New York suburbs after a move to Brooklyn floundered. Several news organizations including Newsday reported Tuesday that the team won a bid to build a new arena on the grounds of the Belmont Park racetrack, home to the third leg of horse racing's Triple Crown each June. An announcement by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected today. The Islanders submitted a development bid for a portion of the Belmont complex in September with several partners including owners of the New York Mets and Madison Square Garden. A spokesman for the partners declined to comment on Tuesday. The state-run Empire State Development Corp. announced in July a request for proposals to develop 36 acres (15 hectares) of vacant and underutilized parking lots at the site of the racetrack. The state also solicited bids to develop the land in 2012 but wound up scrapping all proposals a year ago. Also bidding on the site was the New York City FC soccer team, which envisioned building a stadium on the site, in Elmont, just east of New York City. The soccer team is partially owned by the New York Yankees. Last month, Islanders owner Jon Ledecky said the team will play at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn through the end of next season and the "singular focus" beyond that was for a new arena at Belmont Park. The team played at the Nassau Coliseum from its inception in 1972 until 2015, winning the Stanley Cup every year from 1980 to 1983.