NEW YORK — New York Rangers centerman J.T. Miller scored for the ninth game in ten to lead the hosts to a 2-1 win against New Jersey Monday, opening a six-point gap between the NHL Metropolitan Division rivals.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves as the Rangers strung together three successive wins for the first time in three months.
New York’s Kevin Klein, who broke a thumb last week, scored for the first time in 28 games as the Rangers overcame the absence of captain Ryan McDonagh due to concussion and notched a fifth straight victory at Madison Square Garden.
Travis Zajac scored a short-handed goal with 2:17 left for the Devils, spoiling Lundqvist’s shutout bid.
Penguins 6, Ducks 2: Sidney Crosby had two goals and two assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who snuffed the six-game winning streak of the Anaheim Ducks.
The Penguins won their fifth home game in a row and improved to 7-1-0 in their past eight home games against Anaheim.
Crosby’s goals came on breakaways, including a third-period goal he scored while he was falling with the Ducks’ Cam Fowler chasing and poking at him. Crosby has 26 points since Jan. 1.
Chris Kunitz, Conor Sheary, Carl Hagelin and Olli Maatta added goals for Pittsburgh. Hagelin recorded his first since he was acquired from the Ducks in a Jan. 16 trade. Kris Letang added two assists.
Red Wings 3, Panthers 0: Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and ninth of his career and Pavel Datsyuk scored twice as Detroit shut down Florida.
Tomas Tatar also scored for the Red Wings and Henrik Zetterberg had two assists. Al Montoya made 28 saves for the Panthers.
Florida’s Jaromir Jagr, 43, played his 1,600th career game. He has played the most games of any active NHL player and is 10th all-time.
Senators 5, Lightning 1: Mark Stone recorded two goals and an assist as Ottawa recorded only its third two-game winning streak since December with a victory over Tampa Bay.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a goal and two assists and Zack Smith scored on a line with Stone as the trio has nine goals and 11 assists in four games since being united.
Shane Prince had the Senators’ other goal against the Lightning while J.T. Brown scored for Tampa Bay, which lost for only the second time in 12 games.
