Pittsburgh: Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots for his third shutout of the season and 58th of his career, guiding the New York Rangers past the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 on Wednesday night.
“I just liked the way we competed,” Lundqvist said. “I felt like we were getting to loose pucks and rebounds. You need guys to step up when they get the opportunity to play more minutes and that’s what we’re having now.”
None bigger than Lundqvist, who recorded his 27th win of the season and passed Martin Brodeur for most victories by a goaltender in his first 11 NHL seasons.
Lundqvist has won nine of his last 12 starts and allowed two goals or fewer in 13 of his last 18 appearances, helping the Rangers win again without captain Ryan McDonagh and eight-time 30-goal scorer Rick Nash.
“There’s no doubt that our goaltending was outstanding,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “[Lundqvist] made some big saves at key times and we were able to get some timely goals.”
Kevin Hayes, Dominic Moore and Jesper Fast scored for the Rangers, who won their fourth straight, and fifth in six games.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who didn’t record a shot on goal, failed to extend a career-high, seven-game goalscoring streak and an 11-game run of 12 goals and 22 points during that span. Crosby, with seven goals and 12 points in the previous four games, also came in with a nine-game home goalscoring streak, second in team history behind Mario Lemieux’s 11 straight in 1995-96.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for the Penguins, whose six-game home win streak ended. Pittsburgh, unbeaten in their last 10 at home, last lost a regulation home game against Carolina on December 19. The Penguins previously won six of seven with points in 16 of their last 20 games.
At Detroit, Danny DeKeyser and Henrik Zetterberg scored early in the first and third periods to help the Red Wings beat the Ottawa Senators 3-1, spoiling Dion Phaneuf’s debut with his new team.
Petr Mrazek stopped 22 shots and his bid for a second straight shutout ended with 2:24 left when Zach Smith scored.
At Glendale, Arizona, Ryan Miller stopped 34 shots to end a five-game losing streak and extend his dominance over Arizona, lifting Vancouver to a 2-1 win over the Coyotes.
Jake Virtanen scored in the first period and Jannik Hansen had his 16th of the season on a double carom off two Coyotes players in the second.
Miller improved to 9-1 against Arizona, including 6-0 in Glendale.
Martin Hanzal scored a power-play goal and Louis Domingue stopped 24 shots for the Coyotes, who have lost five straight and nine of 11.
Results
Wednesday’s games
Detroit 3 Ottawa 1
N.Y. Rangers 3 Pittsburgh 0
Vancouver 2 Arizona 1