Steve Rucchin and Petr Sykora combined to set up two goals, and the New York Rangers spoiled Brian Leetch's return to Madison Square Garden with a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in the NHL on Monday.
Rucchin and Sykora assisted on defenseman Michal Rozsival's power-play goal in the first period and Martin Straka's even-strength tally in the second for the Rangers, who won their third straight after a six-game losing streak and stretched their Atlantic Division-lead to four points over Philadelphia.
"It feels like the way we played before the [Olympic] break," said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 19 saves in his third straight win.
PHOTO: AP
Philadelphia will visit New York on Wednesday in a pivotal contest with only four weeks left in the season. The Rangers haven't reached the playoffs since 1997.
"We got into this position with hard work," said Michael Nylander, who added a third-period goal. "It is going down to the wire. That game will be lots of fun."
Boston had a two-game winning streak snapped and is 3-2-8 in its last 13 games. The Bruins are in 13th place and entered the night six points out of a playoff spot.
Leetch played a game against the Rangers for the first time in his 18 NHL seasons. He was with New York from 1988-2004 before being traded to Toronto, and received a warm welcome back from Rangers fans.
Blair Betts and Dominic Moore also scored for New York. Hal Gill and Brad Boyes had the Bruins' goals.
Thrashers 5, Sabres 0
At Atlanta, Kari Lehtonen stopped 20 shots for his second shutout of the season and Atlanta remained one point behind eighth-place Montreal in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Ilya Kovalchuk, Peter Bondra, Slava Kozlov, Steve McCarthy and Jaroslav Modry scored for the Thrashers.
Canadiens 4, Capitals 2
At Washington, Michael Komisarek got his first career goal as Montreal scored three times in just over two minutes in the second period to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Canadiens remained one point ahead of Atlanta for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Komisarek, playing in his 123rd NHL game, had just one assist in 55 games this season.
With the score tied at 1, the Canadiens got three goals in a stretch of 2:06 in the second period. Michael Ryder scored the go-ahead goal on a rebound of Chris Higgins' shot at 7:28, and Alexander Perezhogin made it 3-1 at 9:08. Mathieu Dandenault then scored on a wrist shot from in front just 26 seconds later.
Brian Sutherby scored for Washington in the first period, and Alex Ovechkin added a power-play goal with 11 seconds left in the game.
Predators 4, Blues 2
At Nashville, Tennessee, Scott Nichol scored twice and Paul Kariya and Kimmo Timonen each added power-play goals as Nashville completed a perfect four-game homestand.
St. Louis got on the board with 4 seconds left in the second as Scott Young connected from the top of the slot, ending a flurry of shots against Nashville goalie Chris Mason.Jay McClement capped the scoring with 24 seconds left in the game.
Avalanche 5, Kings 0
At Los Angeles, Joe Sakic had two goals and two assists and Colorado avoided a first-ever season sweep by Los Angeles.
Sakic's season-high four points moved him past two NHL Hall of Famers on the career list for goals and assists. He scored less than five minutes apart in the first period, giving Colorado a 2-0 lead. His first one came on his own rebound off the right post for his 1,468th point, moving Sakic past Stan Mikita into sole possession of 11th place.
The National Hockey League announced a new four-year labor agreement with the league's on-ice officials Monday.
Referees and linesman ratified the extension Friday. The deal was first agreed to in late December but needed to be passed by both sides.
The NHL's board of governors unanimously voted in favor of it last month.
The deal will pay first-year refs US$136,000 a season, with a maximum of US$290,000 a year for veterans. First-year linesmen will be paid US$95,000, with the most experienced earning up to US$190,000.
Also part of the contract is a stipulation for mandatory helmets for all on-ice officials starting next season and mandatory visors for all incoming refs and linesman in 2007-2008.
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