Rangers stretch lead in Boston
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Henrik Lundqvist made 42 saves for his NHL-leading seventh shutout of the season, and the visiting New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 3-0, to widen the gap between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers won their fourth game in a row and opened a nine-point lead over Boston in the East.
Ryan Callahan scored for the sixth time in four games, and Ryan McDonagh and Artem Anisimov had goals for the Rangers, who were outshot, 42-20. It was Lundqvist's 42nd career shutout.
Tim Thomas made 17 saves for the Bruins, who are 6-7-1 in their past 14 games.
The Rangers won their second consecutive game in Boston this season, and Lundqvist has been a big reason why. He also beat the Bruins, 3-2, in overtime Jan. 21, and he is 18-5-2 against them in his career, with six shutouts.
Lately, he has been pretty good against everyone: Lundqvist is 7-1 in his past eight games with three shutouts, and he hasn't allowed more than two goals in any of those games. His 42 saves were a season high.
Callahan opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power-play goal when he deflected a pass from Michael Del Zotto past Thomas. That gave Callahan 23 goals for the season, tying his career high.
McDonagh made it 2-0 with just 12 seconds left in the first. It stayed that way until Anisimov skated in on the right side, faked the crossing pass to Del Zotto and snapped off a quick wrist shot past Thomas' glove to make it 3-0 with 17:07 left in the game. It was Anisimov's 100th career NHL point. Boston had its best chance to spoil the shutout in second period during a scramble in front of the net that left Milan Lucic celebrating. But referee Dave Jackson never lost sight of the puck that was loose in the crease amid the tangle of bodies, and play continued; replays showed he was correct.
• Devils 4, Sabres 1: Ilya Kovalchuk had three goals and an assist, and Martin Brodeur stopped 29 shots in leading visiting New Jersey past Buffalo. Petr Sykora broke a 1-1 tie 1:44 into the third period, and the Devils extended their road winning streak to five.
• Senators 4, Lightning 0: Jason Spezza had three goals and an assist and Craig Anderson made 28 saves as Ottawa won at Tampa Bay. The center completed the hat trick on an empty-net goal.
• Blue Jackets 2, Blues 1: Derek Dorsett's third-period goal lifted host Columbus past St. Louis. A potential tying goal by St. Louis with 1.8 seconds left in regulation was disallowed.
• Ducks 2, Wild 1: Corey Perry scored the winning goal at 12:21 of the third period and Jonas Hiller stopped 17 shots as Anaheim beat host Minnesota, handing the Wild their fifth consecutive loss.
First Published February 15, 2012 12:00 am
