New York: The New York Rangers routed Anaheim 7-2 on Sunday to make it a three-way tie for the overall NHL lead alongside the Ducks and Montreal, with Derek Stepan breaking out of a long slump with two goals and an assist.
The three teams are level on 99 points ahead of the other divisional leaders St Louis, who are two points back after an overtime loss at Detroit. Tampa Bay moved level on points with the Blues by beating Boston.
New York’s Stepan, who had no points in his previous 12 games, scored a goal in each of the first two periods.
Chris Kreider, Carl Hagelin, J.T. Miller, Jesper Fast and Derick Brassard also scored for New York, who have a de facto league lead as they have played three games less than the Ducks and two games less than the Canadiens.
Corey Perry scored both goals in the first period for Anaheim, who have won their previous four games.
Detroit’s Justin Abdelkader scored a power-play goal just 24 seconds into overtime to give the Red Wings a 2-1 victory over St. Louis in a bad-tempered game.
The teams reignited their old Western Conference rivalry, accumulating 36 penalty minutes in a third period that included multiple skirmishes on the ice. The Red Wings had a man advantage for the final 1:21 of regulation and the opening moments of overtime.
Abdelkader’s winner was just the second power-play goal the Blues have allowed in 25 chances over the past seven games.
Alexander Steen started the scoring for the Blues with a power-play goal at 9:38 of the second and Erik Cole tied it for Detroit in the first minute of the third.
Tampa Bay ended their 10-game losing streak against Boston by defeating the Bruins 5-3, with J.T. Brown and Anton Stralman scoring 15 seconds apart soon after Lightning captain Steven Stamkos got into a fight.
Vancouver went ahead with 3:13 left to play as Alexander Edler’s shot glanced off the post and bounced off the goaltender’s back, and the Canucks went on to beat Arizona 3-1.
