Michael Ryder struck for the second straight night, wristing a shot off goalie Kevin Weekes 2:10 into overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday.
Ryder, who had Montreal's first goal of the game, scored the winner Wednesday with 11 seconds remaining in the Canadiens' season-opening 2-1 victory at Boston.
Taking Montreal's only shot of the overtime, Ryder let one go from the right circle that appeared to hit Weekes' stick on the way in. Ryder has three goals this season after missing five exhibition games with a sprained right ankle.
PHOTO: AP
The Rangers, who opened the season with a win at Philadelphia on Wednesday, salvaged one point when Dominic Moore tied it with 2:36 left in regulation.
Alexander Perezhogin gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead in the second period with his first NHL goal in his first game.
Chris Higgins also scored for Montreal.
Marcel Hossa, acquired by New York last Friday from Montreal, scored his second goal of the season, and Martin Rucinsky also had a goal.
Red Wings 4, Blues 3
At St. Louis, Robert Lang had a goal and an assist, and Jason Williams had three assists to help Detroit sweep the season-opening home-and-home series.
Detroit, which beat the Blues 5-1 at home Wednesday night, is 11-1-1 against St. Louis since 2002-2003. Mikael Samuelsson, Jiri Fischer and Brendan Shanahan also scored for Detroit, and Manny Legace made 23 saves for his second win.
Doug Weight had a goal and an assist for St. Louis, defenseman Andy Roach scored his first career goal and Dean McAmmond had his first goal as a member of the Blues.
Kings 3, Coyotes 2
In Los Angeles, Alexander Frolov scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in the second period, giving Los Angeles a win over Phoenix that kept Wayne Gretzky winless as an NHL coach.
The Coyotes had a man advantage for most of the final minute, but didn't score, dropping Gretzky's record to 0-2. Phoenix lost 3-2 at Vancouver on Wednesday.
The coaching milestone of the night belonged to the Kings' Andy Murray, who became the club's most successful ever coach with his 179th victory.
Gretzky, a former Los Angeles player, was still the attraction, though.
The sellout crowd of 18,118 cheered loudly when he was shown on the scoreboard late in the second period. He looked up, smiled and gave a brief wave as the song "Simply the Best" blared in Staples Center, where his retired No. 99 jersey hangs on the wall. A bronze statue of him stands outside the building, where he never played.
Five European countries have signed ice hockey's player transfer agreement, while Russia again refused.
The International Ice Hockey Federation said Thursday that Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland ratified the deal at a meeting in Zurich on Wednesday. The Czech Republic is expected to sign shortly.
The 2005-2007 Player Transfer Agreement regulates transfers to the NHL from all IIHF-affiliated associations and leagues, with the exception of Canada and the US.
Russia's players rejected the deal at a meeting in August, and the federation again refused to sign Wednesday.
"The Russian clubs did not allow the Russian federation to sign this deal," IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg said.
"The Russians made it clear to us in August they were not going to sign."
The Russian federation is at risk of losing its players for nothing by refusing to sign.
The NHL has told its clubs that they are forbidden to acquire players who are already under contract in Russia, but can take free agents without paying any compensation.
The new agreement regulates financial compensation, limits the number of players that can leave Europe annually, and imposes a transfer deadline. It also ensures participation of NHL players -- including Russians -- at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Under the agreement, the NHL will pay a basic development fee of US$200,000 (167,000 euros) for each player signed. If more than 45 players sign, the amount will be US$225,000 (188,000 euros) each.
Teams will also be compensated for players who are signed by NHL clubs but who are not on the roster for 30 games or more -- including playoffs -- in their first season.
There were 194 European players signed by NHL clubs during the previous player transfer agreement, including 41 from the Russian league.
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