Biron perfect in shootout as Rangers rally past Coyotes

Rangers backup Martin Biron pulled out a win last night that no one could have seen coming in the opening minutes. Subbing for No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Biron shook off two early goals and held the New York Rangers in it against the visiting Phoenix Coyotes long enough to skate off with a 4-3 victory in a shootout.

Biron endured chants of "Hen-rik, Hen-rik" and sarcastic cheers when he made back-to-back simple stick saves after his rough start when Phoenix grabbed a 2-0 lead just 5:53 into the game.

"After that second goal, Dru [captain Chris Drury] skated by and slapped me in the pad and said, 'Show them what you got,' " Biron said. "I felt pretty good that the captain skated by me and gave me a vote of confidence. That got me back into the game."

Rangers rookie Derek Stepan scored the tying goal late in regulation and Erik Christensen netted the only goal in the shootout to give Biron the offense he needed. Biron, a 13-season NHL veteran now on his fourth team, turned aside Lee Stempniak, Radim Vrbata and Eric Belanger in the shootout to make Christensen's first-round tally stand up.

Biron also stopped 33 shots through overtime.

"It is not easy because all of a sudden it's 2-0," Biron said. "My job is to come in and win some games."

In other games:

* At St. Paul, Daniel Alfredsson, Nick Foligno and Chris Kelly each scored and the Ottawa Senators took advantage of a disallowed goal to beat Minnesota, 3-1.

* At Montreal, Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist and Scott Gomez also had two points as the Canadiens ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins.

* At Uniondale, N.Y., P.A. Parenteau, Blake Comeau and Matt Moulson scored in a 99-second span and the Islanders won for only the second time in 22 games, beating the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2.

* At Atlanta, Cam Ward stopped 45 shots and the Carolina Hurricanes earned their second straight comeback win, beating the Thrashers 3-2 on Sergei Samsonov's decisive shot in the third round of a shootout.

* At St. Louis, Alex Steen scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:53 left and the Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings, 6-4. Steen scored for the fourth time in five games to send the Blues to their fourth successive win over the Kings.

* At Dallas, Logan Couture's power-play goal 1:20 into overtime gave the San Jose Sharks a 4-3 victory over the Stars.

* At Calgary, Olli Jokinen contributed a power-play goal and two assists and the Flames broke up the game with a three-goal second period on the way to a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

* At Edmonton, Linus Omark scored his first career goal and added two assists, and fellow rookie Jordan Eberle had a pair of goals to lead the Oilers to a 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.