NEW YORK (AP)—Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards scored early, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto had two goals in the third period as the New York Rangers won their fourth in a row and moved closer to securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.
Henrik Lundqvist was steady throughout in winning for the third straight game and for the sixth time in seven. He won at Minnesota and at Winnipeg to get to 250 NHL victories, and helped the Rangers widen their lead. His best stop of the night came two minutes into the third period when he denied David Desharnais on a breakaway to keep the score at 2-0.
Rene Bourque spoiled Lundqvist's chances of a shutout when he scored with 2:29 left to make it 4-1. Lundqvist made 19 saves.
The Rangers moved one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.
Gaborik scored in the first period and Richards had a power-play goal in the second for the Rangers (50-21-7), who are 6-1 since a 2-5 skid earlier this month. Del Zotto also had a man-advantage goal.
Carey Price was sturdy and made 25 saves for the Canadiens, who played their first game since general manager Pierre Gauthier was fired, and team adviser Bob Gainey left on Thursday.
The Rangers came into this game facing a lot less pressure because their lead in the East grew this week from one point to five over Pittsburgh, which surprisingly lost twice to the out-of-contention New York Islanders. New York maintained its five-point edge over the Penguins with four games remaining.
Although there wasn't much action over the first two periods, the Rangers scored once in each frame and were never threatened by the Canadiens, who are just hoping to escape the cellar in the East. This low position is quite unfamiliar to Montreal, which won the Stanley Cup for the first time on this date in 1916.
Gaborik got the Rangers going 8:59 in when he took a second whack at a rebound of Richards' shot in the slot and slid the puck inside the left post for his 39th goal.
Richards made it 2-0 just 30 seconds into the second period. He took a pass from Derek Stepan at the blue line, skated into the high slot, and snapped in his 25th goal. New York took advantage of a penalty for too many men on the ice called against Montreal in the final minute of the first period.
Del Zotto scored a rare power-play goal 8:17 into the third, firing a shot that squeezed past Price. He made it 4-0 with 3:02 remaining, scoring his 10th of the season. Gaborik and Richards earned assists on the final goal.
Although their power play came in ranked third from the bottom in the NHL at 14.7 percent, the Rangers are remarkably efficient when they cash in—going 24-1-4 in games in which they score a power-play goal.
NOTES: Lundqvist has held opponents to two goals or fewer 40 times this season, including six of the past eight. … Rangers captain Ryan Callahan was given the team's Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award before the game. He and Adam Graves are the only three-time winners. … The Canadiens and Rangers split the four-game season series.
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