Dawes’s Lone Shootout Goal Lifts Rangers
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Nigel Dawes’s shootout goal settled a brilliant goaltending duel between New York teammate Henrik Lundqvist and Boston’s Alex Auld and lifted the Rangers to a stirring 1–0 victory over the Bruins yesterday.
Dawes, the second shooter for New York, scored in the shootout for the third time in four games and pushed the Rangers ahead of Boston by one point for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have 13 games remaining. Dawes scored the lone goal in the tiebreaker and helped the Rangers salvage one game in the four-game season series with the Bruins (1–1–2). New York is 9–0–3 in its last 12 and 14–3–3 in its previous 20.
Through regulation, Auld made 34 saves. He was matched by Lundqvist, who stopped 27 Bruins shots. Boston held a 2–1 edge in overtime.
Lundqvist turned aside Marco Sturm, Phil Kessel and David Krejci in the shootout. Kessel had scored in each of the Bruins’ two shootout wins this season over New York in Boston, including a 1-0 win in October.
Lundqvist has eight shutouts this season. Auld posted his third. Auld played in a fifth straight game, including a pair of relief appearances for Tim Thomas, who gave up 12 goals on 47 shots in losses this week to Washington and Toronto. Thomas earned two of Boston’s three previous wins over the Rangers this season.
Auld kept the Bruins in Saturday’s 2–1 victory in a rematch with Washington, holding the fort until Boston scored a pair of 5-on-3 power-play goals in the closing minutes.
The tying goal Saturday came off the stick of captain Zdeno Chara, but the 6-foot-9 defenseman didn’t make the trip to New York because of an undisclosed injury that sidelined him for part of the win.
Lundqvist proved sharp in his first outing since earning his 30th win of the season Thursday night with a 26-save effort against the Islanders in a 4–1 win.
Lundqvist, making his 10th straight start, turned aside Sturm in front shortly before the midway point of the second and then stuck his glove out to snag defenseman Dennis Wideman’s drive late in the period during the first of Boston’s two power plays in the frame.
In the third, he dived across the goal line with his glove to keep out Glen Metropolit’s shot. Then he stood tall to block Krejci’s drive.
