Stepan beat Mike Smith high to the glove side before
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped Coyotes captain Shane Doan to secure
the win.
The Rangers, who won for the 10th time in 11 games,
improved to 27-9-4 for an NHL-high 58 points and their best start since
1993-94, when they won the Stanley Cup. New York won its fifth straight overall
and improved to 13-3-2 at home.
After two scoreless periods, Ruslan Fedotenko put New
York ahead at 2:27 of the third. Radim Vrbata tied it with his team-leading
20th with 9:23 remaining in regulation.
The Rangers beat the Coyotes for the eighth time in their
last 10 meetings.
Phoenix has lost seven of nine overall.
In Boston, Nathan Horton's second goal
of the game keyed Boston's three-goal third period as the Bruins beat Winnipeg.
After Horton scored 8 seconds into the final period,
Tyler Seguin and Benoit Pouliot followed over the next 6:33 to lift Boston in a
game that featured a penalty shot by both teams.
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask stopped Chris Thorburn in the
first period and Shawn Thornton beat Winnipeg's Ondrej Pavelec in the second
for a short-handed goal after he came flying out of the penalty box and grabbed
a loose puck.
The last time two teams had a penalty shot in the same
game was Minnesota at Phoenix on Oct. 8, 2005. The Bruins had a penalty shot
for the second straight game after Daniel Paille failed to convert Saturday
against Vancouver.
Andrew Ladd, ex-Bruin Blake Wheeler and Eric Fehr scored
for the Jets, who went 1-3 on their road trip.
In Raleigh, Sean Couturier scored
the tiebreaking goal 3:23 into the third period and Philadelphia beat Carolina.
Brayden Schenn had the Flyers' other goal and Sergei
Bobrovsky made 35 saves. Philadelphia is 18-3-3 against the Hurricanes since
the start of the 2006-07 season, including 10-1-1 in Carolina.
Jerome Samson scored his first NHL goal for the
Hurricanes, who were 4-0-1 in their previous five home games. Carolina has
dropped four five overall.
Cam Ward made 35 saves for the Hurricanes.
In Pittsburgh, Milan Michalek
scored twice, Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots and Ottawa made quick work of
slumping Pittsburgh.
Chris Neil, Bobby Butler and Jason Spezza also scored for
the Senators, while Colin Greening had three assists. Ottawa scored on four
consecutive shots spanning the first and second period to break it open and
send the reeling Penguins to their fifth straight loss.
Evgeni Malkin scored his 17th goal of the season for
Pittsburgh but couldn't stop the Penguins from matching their longest losing
streak in two years. Brent Johnson made just five saves on eight shots before
being pulled early in the second period in favor of Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pittsburgh, a Stanley Cup favorite after Sidney Crosby's
brief return in November, is eighth in the Eastern Conference at the season's
midway point.
The Senators won for the sixth time in seven games.
In Toronto, Jonas Gustavsson had
32 saves for his second shutout in three starts to lead Toronto over Buffalo.
Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski scored for Toronto,
which won all four games on a homestand that started last Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs moved eight points ahead of the
struggling Sabres heading into Friday's rematch at First Niagara Center. It
also gave them a three-point cushion over ninth-place Winnipeg in the Eastern
Conference.
Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller fell to 1-5 against Toronto in
his last six starts.
In Uniondale, John Tavares had
a goal and assist in the second period, shortly after being struck in the head
with a puck, and Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves as New York beat Detroit.
Kyle Okposo and Michael Grabner also scored in the
second, a period in which the Islanders had three goals on four shots.
Matt Moulson started and finished the outburst for the
Islanders, 5-0-1 against the Red Wings since the NHL lockout seven years ago.
New York is 15-1-7 at home in its last 23 games against Western Conference
teams.
Moulson scored with 53 seconds left in the first and
added his 20th of the season with 6:03 remaining to push the lead to 5-1, with
an assist from Tavares.
Red Wings leading scorer Pavel Datsyuk sat out because of
a lower body injury.
In Montreal, Jaroslav Halak earned
a shutout in his first game back in Montreal and St. Louis extended its winning
streak to four with a victory over the Canadiens.
David Backes and Chris Stewart each had a goal and an
assist, and Jason Arnott also scored for the Blues, who got a shutout from
Brian Elliott in a 4-0 win at Colorado on Saturday night.
Halak, traded by Montreal to the Blues in June 2010, made
19 saves for his second shutout of the season and the 18th of his career.
The Canadiens had won the first two games of their
three-game homestand.
In Tampa, Mason Raymond
scored the lone goal in the shootout on a spinning backhander to help Vancouver
beat Tampa Bay.
Canucks goalie Cory Schneider stopped all three shots he
faced during the shootout, including one by NHL goals leader Steven Stamkos on
Tampa Bay's final opportunity.
The Lightning tied it at 4 with a minute remaining in the
third period when Ryan Malone scored from near the post off a nifty pass by
Martin St. Louis.
Alexander Edler, Jannik Hansen, Manny Malhotra and Ryan
Kesler scored in regulation for Vancouver. The Canucks, ahead 4-2 after 40
minutes, are 21-0-0 when leading going into the third period.
Stamkos scored his 29th goal and added an assist. Vincent
Lecavalier and Steve Downie had the other Tampa Bay goals.
In St. Paul, Matt Cullen scored in
the third period and the first round of a shootout as skidding Minnesota
recoverd from a late stumble to stop San Jose's four-game winning streak.
Mikko Koivu scored next for Minnesota, and Josh Harding
stopped shots by Michal Handzus and Ryane Clowe to give the Wild their second
victory in 13 games. They are 2-8-3 in that span.
Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau scored 22 seconds apart
to tie the game with 2:44 remaining in regulation minutes after Cullen's goal.
Harding made 34 saves, and the Sharks outshot the Wild 18-8 in the third
period.
Cal Clutterbuck had a goal and an assist, and Warren
Peters and Nick Johnson also scored for the Wild.
Dan Boyle had a 5-on-3 goal, and Benn Ferriero scored for
the Sharks.
In Chicago, Viktor Stalberg
scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick and Chicago beat Columbus to end
a season-high four-game losing streak and spoil the debut of interim Blue
Jackets coach Todd Richards.
Dave Bolland and rookie Ben Smith also scored for the
Blackhawks.
R.J. Umberger and Antoine Vermette had goals for
Columbus, which lost its second straight and is 2-9-1 in its last 12 games.
Richards replaced Scott Arniel, who was fired on Monday.
The Blue Jackets are 11-26-5, the worst record in the NHL and their worst start
since entering the league in 2000-01.
Corey Crawford made 32 saves for Chicago and Stalberg
snapped a six-game streak without a point.
In Denver, Pekka Rinne made 32
saves and Martin Erat and Ryan Ellis each had a goal and an assist to lead
Nashville past Colorado.
Nick Paling and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the
Predators, who have won two straight and five of six.
Ryan O'Reilly scored for Colorado and Semyon Varlamov
settled down after a shaky start to finish with 20 saves. The Avalanche have
lost two in a row after winning 11 of 13.
Nashville has won six straight against the Avalanche
dating to the 2009-10 season. Rinne was in net for all four Predators wins over
Colorado last season.
In Calgary, Curtis Glencross had a
goal and three assists, and Jarome Iginla added a goal and two assists to lead
Calgary over New Jersey.
Jay Bouwmeester had a goal and an assist for the Flames,
while Cory Sarich, T.J. Brodie and Lee Stempniak also scored. Calgary won its
seventh straight at home and improved to 9-0-1 in the last 10 at Scotiabank
Saddledome. Miikka Kiprusoff made 35 saves, including 20 in the third period.
Adam Henrique and Ilya Kovalchuk each had a goal and an
assist for the Devils. Patrick Elias also scored and Zach Parise had two
assists.
Martin Brodeur started in goal for the Devils, but was
pulled at the 7:32 mark of the first period after allowing two goals on five
shots. Johan Hedberg made just five saves on nine shots in a relief appearance
and ended up taking the loss.
New Jersey outshot Calgary 38-14.
In Anaheim, Saku Koivu scored two of
his three goals on slick setups by Teemu Selanne in the third period, and
Anaheim beat Dallas for its first three-game winning streak in nearly three
months.
Koivu scored the tiebreaking goal with 10:28 to play and
added an empty-net goal with 53.7 seconds left for the longtime Montreal
captain's second career hat trick.
Jeff Deslauriers made 26 saves in his first NHL
appearance in nearly two years for Anaheim, which hadn't won three straight
since starting the season 4-1.
Luca Sbisa also scored, and Matt Beleskey added his first
goal of the season with 5:20 to play.
Steve Ott and Alex Goligoski scored 64 seconds apart
early in the third period to tie it for the Stars.
