Peter Budaj made 27 saves for his 11th career NHL shutout, while Tomas Plekanec and Alex Galchenyuk provided the scoring as the Montreal Canadiens spoiled the Rangers’ long-awaited homecoming with a 2-0 victory.
“I think we did a lot of good things,” said New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made 25 saves after a two-game injury absence. “We just hoped for an early goal for us to get the energy and confidence, and get the building going. It was a disappointing loss, but it was great to be back.”
In Monday’s other games, the Dallas Stars edged the Buffalo Sabres 4-3, the Pittsburg Penguins had a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1 and the Vancouver Canucks extended their winning streak to four games after beating the Washington Capitals 3-2.
Photo: AFP
Much of Monday’s attention was on the refurbished Madison Square Garden, where the Rangers were back in town after nine games on the road.
Lundqvist was outshone by Budaj, the Canadiens’ 31-year-old backup to Carey Price.
Plekanec scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in the second period and Budaj made it stand up for Montreal, who had lost three of four since a four-game winning streak.
Galchenyuk scored his second of the season with 2 minutes, 51 seconds left with a goal that stood up to a video review. It was scored just moments after Budaj blocked an in-close chance for Mats Zuccarello.
“If that’s not a kick, I don’t know what a kick is,” an aggravated Lundqvist said. “It’s just a frustrating goal there that kind of kills the whole game.”
New York ended their season-opening road trip last weekend with a stirring 3-2 overtime win in Detroit, Michigan, but even with a healthy Lundqvist the Rangers could not build off that momentum.
“Guys were so excited. There was a definite energy,” forward Chris Kreider said. “The effort was there — the same effort as Detroit, if not more. We learned from that game and we got better, but we didn’t get the result we wanted. So go back to the drawing board.”
In Buffalo, New York, Tyler Seguin capped a three-goal, first-period outburst as the Stars hung on to deliver coach Lindy Ruff a win in his homecoming against the Sabres.
Jamie Benn, Alex Goligoski and Vernon Fiddler also scored in a game in which the Stars nearly squandered a 4-1 lead against the NHL’s worst team.
Matt Moulson nearly spoiled Ruff’s return by scoring two goals on his Sabres debut, a day after being acquired in a trade that sent Thomas Vanek to the New York Islanders.
The Penguins ended a three-game losing stretch with the victory over the Hurricanes, with rookie Jayson Megna notching his first career goal and assist.
In Vancouver, Daniel Sedin scored the game-winner in the third period and added an assist for the Canucks.
Zack Kassian and Ryan Kesler also scored for Vancouver, who played at Rogers Arena for the first time since Oct. 12 after a seven-game trip.
Henrik Sedin added an assist to extend his point streak to nine games. Roberto Luongo made 17 saves for the Canucks.
Jason Chimera, with a goal and an assist, and Mikhail Grabovski scored for Washington, who got 38 saves from Michal Neuvirth.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
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