Jagr Enjoys Milestone-Filled Night As Rangers Steamroll Senators
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Jaromir Jagr had a goal and two assists, and Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves to easily outplay Dominik Hasek in the Rangers’ 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators last night.
Jagr’s 36th goal gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the second period and moved him into a tie with Mike Bossy for 16th place on the NHL’s career list with 573. With his three points, Jagr passed Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull for 18th place with 1,392.
Marek Malik and Jason Ward also scored in the middle frame as New York, the top team in the Atlantic Division, snapped a four-game losing streak to Northeast Division-leading Ottawa. Michael Nylander and Petr Sykora added goals in the third period for the Rangers, who delivered one of their best performances in a surprisingly successful season. They have won four straight and five of six.
Chris Kelly scored with 2:04 left in the second period to bring Ottawa to 3-1.
But Lundqvist won the matchup of Olympic goalies, topping the Czech Republic’s Hasek, who entered in a tie for the NHL’s best goals-against average. Lundqvist of Sweden came in with the third-lowest GAA. The Rangers rookie improved to 24-7-6. Hasek (27-9-4) made 18 saves.
After a scoreless first period, New York had three goals on its first four second-period shots. Jagr started things during the Rangers’ 5-on-3 power play just 49 seconds in. The NHL’s scoring leader, with 83 points, onetimed a pass from Martin Rucinsky in the slot and beat Hasek high to the glove side.
New York made it 2-0 at 6:19 on an unassisted goal by Malik, who intercepted a clearing pass at the right point. Malik scored his second goal of the season when his shot deflected off the skate of an Ottawa player.
The lead grew to three goals on Ward’s short-handed goal at 14:06.Ville Nieminen led a 3-on-none break up the right wing boards and sent a backhanded drop pass from the right circle to Ward in the slot.Ward’s wrist shot beat Hasek to the stick side for his ninth goal.
Nylander made it 4-1 with his 14th goal at 7:56 of the third period. He finished a textbook, tic-tac-toe play that started with Jagr’s cross-ice pass to Martin Straka, who slid the puck across the goal mouth for Nylander to redirect in.
Jagr also assisted on Sykora’s 13th goal with 6:09 left. Sykora banked a shot in off an Ottawa player from behind the Senators’ net.
The Rangers hadn’t beaten Ottawa since November 23, 2003.
