Raanta steps up for Lundqvist to help vanquish Capitals
New York’s Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta made 32 saves while subbing for the injured Henrik Lundqvist and helped the Rangers win 3-2 at Washington on Friday in a clash of the top teams in the NHL’s Eastern Conference.
Raanta was pressed into duty after Lundqvist was ruled out because of neck spasms. He was stellar against the NHL’s top team, helping the Rangers extend their streak of not losing consecutive games that dates to mid-December.
Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast and Keith Yandle scored for the Rangers against Braden Holtby, who made 20 saves.
Jay Beagle and TJ Oshie had the Capitals’ goals. Washington’s lead over the Rangers was trimmed to 16 games.
In Dallas, Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist on his 21st birthday, and the Stars stopped a four-game slide with a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
Vernon Fiddler, Jason Spezza and Colton Sceviour also scored for Dallas, and Kari Lehtonen made 18 saves. Fiddler’s short-handed score into an empty net with 20 seconds left was his 100th career goal.
With about a month left in the season, Dallas, Chicago and St Louis are locked up in a tough race for the Central Division title. The Stars (3920-7) and Blackhawks (40-21-5) each have 85 points, followed by the Blues (37-20-9) with 83.
New Jersey has lost seven of nine. Adam Henrique and Devante SmithPelly scored for the Devils, and Cory Schneider had 15 saves before leaving at 2:05 of the third due to an injury. Keith Kinkaid made six saves.
In Columbus, Ohio, defenceman David Savard had two goals, and the Blue Jackets scored on their first two shots as they beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-3.
Boone Jenner and Scott Hartnell each had a goal and an assist as lastplace Columbus won for the third time in four games. Cam Atkinson and Fedor Tyutin also scored, and Joonas Korpisalo had 25 saves.