Nigel Dawes' shootout goal settled a brilliant goaltending duel between New York teammate Henrik Lundqvist and the Boston Bruins' Alex Auld and lifted the Rangers to a stirring 1-0 victory in the NHL on Sunday.
Dawes scored in the shootout for the third time in four games and pushed the Rangers ahead of Boston by one point for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 13 games remaining.
Through regulation, Auld made 34 saves. He was matched by Lundqvist, who stopped 27 shots.
Penguins 4, Capitals 2
At Washington, Sidney Crosby scored two goals -- one a fluke with 28 seconds to play -- and Pittsburgh tallied twice in the final 30 seconds to move within one point of first-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.
With the score 2-2, Washington's Nicklas Backstrom backhanded a loose puck into his own net. The puck appeared to hit Crosby's skate along the way, giving him his second goal of the game.
Jordan Staal added an empty-net goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Red Wings 4, Predators 3
At Detroit, Johan Franzen scored two power-play goals for NHL-leading Detroit.
The Red Wings welcomed back captain Nicklas Lidstrom, the star defenseman who missed six games because of a knee injury. He has won five of the last six Norris Trophies as the NHL's top defenseman. He had two assists.
Jiri Hudler and Brad Stuart also scored for the Red Wings, who had three power play goals, and Niklas Kronwall had two assists. Dominik Hasek made 20 saves, including one on J.P. Dumont's breakaway with 1:49 left.
Shea Weber, Martin Erat and Jordin Tootoo scored for Nashville.
Oilers 6, Blackhawks 5, OT
At Chicago, rookie Andrew Cogliano redirected Robert Nilsson's cross-ice feed past Patrick Lalime at 3:01 of overtime for his second goal of the game to lift Edmonton.
Chicago's Dustin Byfuglien scored during a goalmouth scramble with 4:35 left in the third period to tie the game and set up overtime.
Dustin Penner, Curtis Glencross, Nilsson and Marty Reasoner also scored in regulation for the Oilers.
Blue Jackets 5, Lightning 3
At Columbus, Ohio, Jason Chimera scored a power-play goal with 3:44 remaining, and Columbus ended a seven-game home winless streak, one shy of the franchise record.
David Vyborny, Derek MacKenzie, Michael Peca and Jiri Novotny also scored for Columbus.
Sharks 3, Wild 2, SO
At St Paul, Minnesota, Patrick Marleau saved the game in overtime and scored the winner in the shootout to help San Jose win its franchise-record ninth straight.
Marleau knocked Marian Gaborik's last-minute shot out of the air and out of danger to preserve the tie and set up the shootout. Joe Pavelski scored first for the Sharks and Marleau wrapped it up for the visitors after a nifty 360-degree spin move by Pierre-Marc Bouchard gave Minnesota a chance.
The Wild was behind until Brian Rolston's goal in the final minute of regulation tied the game at 2.
San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov was as good as ever making 21 saves.
In other NHL action on Sunday it was:
Stars 3, Avalanche 0
Ducks 3, Canadiens 1



