Martin Gerber made 37 saves to help the NHL-leading Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers 2-1 last night, spoiling goalie Henrik Lundqvist’s first start since leading Sweden to the Olympic gold medal.

Lundqvist, in goal for New York for the first time since beating Toronto on February 10 in the Rangers’ last home game before the Olympic break, made 17 saves. New York has lost two straight following a seven-game winning streak.

Justin Williams and Kevyn Adams scored for Carolina, playing the second game of a five-game trip. The Hurricanes have won five straight to open a three-point lead over Detroit in the overall standings. They have won 11 of their last 14 games and 20 of 24.

Gerber improved to 30-9-2, allowing only Steve Rucchin’s goal at 3:28 of the third period. Gerber had little chance on the goal, with Rucchin stopping Thomas Pock’s shot from the blue line with his skates and flipping in a short shot from the slot.

The Rangers outshot the Hurricanes 17-0 in the third period.

Carolina took a 2-0 lead at 8:31 of the second period on Williams’ 20th goal of the season. Rod Brind’Amour controlled the puck behind the goal, skated into the corner and fired a centering pass to the unchecked Williams on the far edge of the crease.

Adams opened the scoring with 1:09 left in the first period, knocking a loose puck past Lundqvist from the edge of the crease.

The Rangers controlled the play for most of the first period, but squandered an early 1:17 two-man advantage and failed to generate many quality scoring chances.

The Hurricanes failed to score on a 51-second, two-man advantage early in the second period. Lundqvist stopped Brind’Amour’s close-range attempt on the 5-on-3 and Darius Kasparaitis had a strong defensive shift for the Rangers.

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Rookie Alex Ovechkin scored his 40th and 41st goals last night, and the Washington Capitals opened a fivegame homestand with a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders.

Ovechkin scored in his sixth straight game, matching his best streak, and became the first Capitals player to hit the 40-goal mark since Peter Bondra had 45 in 2000-01.Ovechkin also added a thirdperiod assist for his 76th point of the season, 10 ahead of Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby in the rookie scoring race.

Ovechkin beat goaltender Garth Snow with a slapshot from the top of the left circle early in the second period for the game’s first goal. He scored again when he stationed himself by the crease during a faceoff and directed Mike Green’s pass into the net with 0.5 seconds remaining in the period, giving the Capitals a 3-1 lead.

In the third period during a power play, Ovechkin supplied the cross-ice pass for Bryan Muir’s one-timer that restored a two-goal lead. Muir added another goal late in the period.