Rangers blast Islanders, end five-game skid

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Henrik Lundqvist stopped 35 shots and made coach John Tortorella's decision to bench a pair of veteran players look smart as the New York Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders last night.

Ryan Callahan scored a pair of goals and added two assists, Marian Gaborik had his NHL-leading 24th goal and two assists, and Michal Rozsival and Vinny Prospal had two assists each to help the Rangers salvage a split of the home-and-home series.

If not for Lundqvist's 14 stops in the first period and shaky goaltending from the Islanders' Dwayne Roloson, it likely wouldn't have happened.

The Rangers had scored two goals or fewer in seven straight games and 17 of the previous in 21 contests. During their 1-6-2 skid before last night, the Rangers had netted only 15 goals. The Rangers hadn't had more than three goals since beating Columbus, 7-4, on Nov. 23 - 10 games earlier.

N.Y. Rangers 2 1 2 – 5

N.Y. Islanders 0 1 1 – 2

First period: 1, N.Y. Rangers, Callahan 8 (Gaborik, Prospal), 13:06 (pp). 2, N.Y. Rangers, Drury 3 (Avery, Rozsival), 17:56. Penalties: Staal, NYR (high-sticking), 2:07; Sanguinetti, NYR (holding), 5:51; Tavares, NYI (high-sticking), 6:44; Streit, NYI (holding), 12:41; New York bench, served by Prospal (too many men), 14:03; Sutton, NYI (tripping), 18:55.

Second period: 3, N.Y. Rangers, Callahan 9 (Gaborik, Rozsival), :27 (pp). 4, N.Y. Islanders, MacDonald 1 (Streit, Nielsen), 9:31. Penalties: Brashear, NYR (roughing), 3:03; New York bench, served by Bailey (too many men), 7:46; Higgins, NYR (tripping), 9:25; Staal, NYR (slashing), 15:07; Comeau, NYI (slashing), 15:07.

Third period: 5, N.Y. Rangers, Gaborik 24 (Prospal, Callahan), 3:37 (pp). 6, N.Y. Rangers, Anisimov 6 (Callahan, Girardi), 6:50. 7, N.Y. Islanders, Nielsen 5 (Sutton, Comeau), 15:14. Penalties: Meyer, NYI (delay of game), 2:02; Rozsival, NYR (roughing), 3:12; Del Zotto, NYR (roughing), 3:12; Witt, NYI (roughing), 3:12; Comeau, NYI (roughing), 3:12; Nielsen, NYI (roughing), 3:12; Lisin, NYR, double minor (high-sticking), 9:41.

Shots on Goal: N.Y. Rangers 4-12-6–22. N.Y. Islanders 14-14-9–37.

Power-play opportunities: N.Y. Rangers 3 of 6; N.Y. Islanders 0 of 7.

Goalies: N.Y. Rangers, Lundqvist 13-13-3 (37 shots-35 saves). N.Y. Islanders, Roloson 11-6-5 (22-17).

Referees: Chris Ciamaga, Kelly Sutherland. Linesmen: Steve Barton, Brad Kovachik.

Attendance: 15,138 (16,234). Time: 2:19.

Wild 3, Canadiens 1

MONTREAL - Mikko Koivu broke a first-period tie with a power-play goal, and Niklas Backstrom made 30 saves to lead Minnesota over Montreal.

Robbie Earl opened the scoring early in the first period, and Koivu restored Minnesota's one-goal lead later in the period with his 10th goal, tying Andrew Brunette for the team lead. Cal Clutterbuck added his sixth goal in the third.

Backstrom extended his personal winning streak to four games as the Wild won their second in a row. Minnesota is 9-2-1 following a four-game losing streak.

Andrei Kostitsyn scored for Montreal.

Minnesota 2 0 1 – 3

Montreal 1 0 0 – 1

First period: 1, Minnesota, Earl 3 (Johnsson), 2:41. 2, Montreal, A.Kostitsyn 9 (Gomez), 3:26. 3, Minnesota, Koivu 10 (Havlat, Brunette), 14:08 (pp). Penalties: Bergeron, Mon (holding), 12:10.

Second period: None. Penalties: None.

Third period: 4, Minnesota, Clutterbuck 6 (Kobasew, Schultz), 11:47. Penalties: Sheppard, Min (delay of game), 2:08; Johnsson, Min (holding), 18:40.

Shots on Goal: Minnesota 11-7-3–21. Montreal 7-12-12–31.

Power-play opportunities: Minnesota 1 of 1; Montreal 0 of 2.

Goalies: Minnesota, Backstrom 15-10-3 (31 shots-30 saves). Montreal, Price 9-13-3 (21-18).

Referees: Marc Joannette, Rob Martell. Linesmen: Pierre Champoux, Scott Cherrey.

Attendance: 21,273 (21,273). Time: 2:15.

Thrashers 6, Stars 5

ATLANTA - Rich Peverley scored his second goal of the game 1 minute, 16 seconds into overtime, and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 42 shots to help Atlanta beat Dallas for its first home win over the Stars.

Loui Eriksson scored for the Stars with 1:12 remaining in regulation - only nine seconds after Dallas coach Marc Crawford had pulled goalie Marty Turco - for a 5-5 tie.

The Thrashers improved to 2-10 in the series, including 1-5 in Atlanta.

Dallas 2 1 2 0 – 5

Atlanta 1 2 2 1 – 6

First period: 1, Dallas, Robidas 8 (Modano, Eriksson), 2:12 (pp). 2, Atlanta, Kovalchuk 19 (Afinogenov, White), 6:30 (pp). 3, Dallas, Lehtinen 2 (Ott, Fistric), 16:14 (sh). Penalties: Salmela, Atl (holding), 1:25; Lehtinen, Dal (hooking), 4:46; Armstrong, Atl (goaltender interference), 12:15; Barch, Dal (high-sticking), 14:44.

Second period: 4, Atlanta, Slater 1, 10:47. 5, Atlanta, Antropov 6 (Peverley, Enstrom), 12:35 (pp). 6, Dallas, Benn 6 (Ribeiro), 18:02. Penalties: Richards, Dal (slashing), 10:59.

Third period: 7, Dallas, Robidas 9 (Modano, Grossman), 4:43 (pp). 8, Atlanta, Afinogenov 12 (Little, Kovalchuk), 8:27 (pp). 9, Atlanta, Peverley 11 (Armstrong, Hainsey), 12:46 (sh). 10, Dallas, Eriksson 11 (Robidas), 18:48. Penalties: Reasoner, Atl (tripping), 2:53; Niskanen, Dal (holding), 6:58; Schubert, Atl (hooking), 11:07.

Overtime: 11, Atlanta, Peverley 12 (Afinogenov, Kubina), 1:16. Penalties: None.

Shots on Goal: Dallas 17-16-14-0–47. Atlanta 6-9-9-1–25.

Power-play opportunities: Dallas 2 of 4; Atlanta 3 of 4.

Goalies: Dallas, Auld (15 shots-12 saves), Turco 10-7-8 (12:35 second, 10-7). Atlanta, Pavelec 9-8-3 (47-42).

Referees: Justin St. Pierre, Ian Walsh. Linesmen: Michel Cormier, Mark Shewchyk.

Attendance: 11,957 (18,545). Time: 2:27.

Coyotes 2,

Blue Jackets 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Robert Lang stayed perfect in shoot-outs this season, scoring the winner to give Phoenix a decision over Columbus.

Phoenix 1 0 0 1 – 2

Columbus 0 0 1 0 – 1

Phoenix won shoot-out, 2-1.

First period: 1, Phoenix, Yandle 5, 1:48. Penalties: Hanzal, Pho (hooking), 12:27; Lang, Pho (boarding), 14:56.

Second period: None. Penalties: Bissonnette, Pho, major (fighting), 5:58; Boll, Clm, major (fighting), 5:58; Phoenix bench, served by Upshall (too many men), 7:15; Huselius, Clm (high-sticking), 8:19; Chimera, Clm, misconduct, 13:16; Doan, Pho (interference), 14:08; Huselius, Clm (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:05.

Third period: 2, Columbus, Nash 18 (Tyutin, Stralman), 8:19 (pp). Penalties: Prucha, Pho (goaltender interference), 7:37; Upshall, Pho (high-sticking), 18:53.

Overtime: None. Penalties: None.

Shootout: Phoenix 2 (Vrbata NG, Doan G, Lang G), Columbus 1 (Huselius NG, Nash G, Tyutin NG).

Shots on Goal: Phoenix 6-10-6-5–27. Columbus 11-13-10-5–39.

Power-play opportunities: Phoenix 0 of 2; Columbus 1 of 6.

Goalies: Phoenix, LaBarbera 2-3-0 (39 shots-38 saves). Columbus, Garon 4-3-2 (27-26).

Referees: David Banfield, Kevin Pollock. Linesmen: Pierre Racicot, Shane Heyer.

Attendance: 13,363 (18,144). Time: 2:36.

Red Wings 3,

Lightning 0

DETROIT - Jimmy Howard made 30 saves for his first NHL shutout in Detroit's victory over Tampa Bay.

Drew Miller, Todd Bertuzzi and Patrick Eaves scored for Detroit, and Brian Rafalski had two assists.

Mike Smith stopped 19 shots for Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay 0 0 0 – 0

Detroit 1 0 2 – 3

First period: 1, Detroit, Miller 4 (Rafalski), 8:24. Penalties: Konopka, TB, major (fighting), 11:50; May, Det, major (fighting), 11:50; Eaves, Det (roughing), 18:17.

Second period: None. Penalties: Malone, TB (cross-checking), 3:27; Leino, Det (hooking), 3:58; Janik, Det (interference), 7:04; Bertuzzi, Det (high-sticking), 15:28.

Third period: 2, Detroit, Bertuzzi 9 (Holmstrom, Datsyuk), 6:48. 3, Detroit, Eaves 4 (Lidstrom, Rafalski), 10:10. Penalties: Abdelkader, Det (goaltender interference), 2:46; Ohlund, TB (high-sticking), 9:24; Maltby, Det (tripping), 9:24; Malone, TB (high-sticking), 16:43.

Shots on Goal: Tampa Bay 10-10-10–30. Detroit 9-8-5–22.

Power-play opportunities: Tampa Bay 0 of 5; Detroit 0 of 2.

Goalies: Tampa Bay, Smith 5-9-5 (22 shots-19 saves). Detroit, Howard 11-6-1 (30-30).

Referees: Stephen Walkom, Francois St. Laurent. Linesmen: Lonnie Cameron, Anthony Sericolo.

Attendance: 19,474 (20,066). Time: 2:16.