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 On Tuesday night, St. Louis played the role of playmaker,
registering three assists for the 74th time in his career in the
Rangers' 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at
Madison Square Garden. It was the first multi-point game for St.
Louis since his arrival from Tampa Bay on March 5.
Rangers center Brad Richards scored two goals, giving him 20 goals
in a season for the 10th time in his career.
The win pushed the Rangers (44-31-5) closer to securing home-ice
advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. New
York has accumulated 93 points, good enough for second place in the
Metropolitan Division and fifth overall in the Eastern Conference.
The Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers' likely opponent in the first
round, entered Tuesday in sixth place in the conference with 89
points.
Right winger Patrick Dwyer scored a first-period goal for Carolina
(34-34-11) before the Rangers struck for four straight goals. New
York has won 11 of the last 12 games against the Hurricanes.
St. Louis registered his third assist at 4:38 of the third period on
center Derek Stepan's 17th goal that gave New York a 4-1 cushion.
"Marty (St. Louis) certainly hasn't been bad since he's been here,"
Stepan said. "He's had a lot of quality looks. It's weird how this
game works that way. He is a pro and a high-elite pro.
"You knew it was just a matter of time before he figured it out.
He's getting himself more and more comfortable here and he's going
to be a big part of our push in the end."
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots in winning for the
seventh time in his last 10 games, lowering his goals-against
average during that span to 1.98. He is 17-9-1 against Carolina in
his career.
Richards scored his second goal on the power play for a 3-1 Rangers
lead after two periods. He blasted a shot from 28 feet directly in
front of the net at 13:36 from St. Louis and defenseman Dan Girardi
for a 3-1 lead.
"I definitely have felt a lot better the past six or seven games,"
St. Louis said. "It's nice to get rewarded on so many plays."
The Rangers moved ahead 2-1 just 50 seconds into the second period.
Center Mats Zuccariello faked a shot from deep in front of the net
and sent a pass to a streaking Benoit Pouliot down the right wing.
Pouliot fired in his 14th goal of the season.
The second period has been good to the Rangers during the past 14
games. New York has outscored its opponents 21-6 in the period since
March 13.
Richards evened the score at 1 for New York with a power-play goal
at 15:44 from St. Louis and Stepan. It was Richards' 19th of the
season.
New York had scored just four goals on its previous 47 power plays
over its previous 15 games.
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"We understand how important special teams are going to be down the
stretch and in the playoffs," St. Louis said. "Our power play needed
to be better and I thought it was better tonight. "It got us back in the game and got us the lead. It's a big part of
our game that we work on every day." Dwyer gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with his eighth goal and first in his
last 10 games at 3:22 of the first period. Defenseman Brett
Bellemore slid a pass between the legs of Rangers defenseman Kevin
Klein from behind the net to Dwyer, who one-timed a wrist shot from
the right door step.
The Hurricanes have been outscored 65-41 in the first period this
season.
"I think the turning point was coming out and getting scored on in
the first shift," Carolina coach Kirk Mueller said. "We started off
that period on the wrong foot and gave them (New York) momentum."
NOTES: Rangers LW Mats Zuccariello was presented the Steven McDonald
Extra Effort Award before the game. McDonald is a former New York
City police officer who was shot in the line of duty. ... Nine
Rangers players have at least 14 goals this season. The last time
that occurred was the 1993-94 season. ... New York D Ryan McDonagh
missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury.
McDonagh had six goals in March, the most by a Rangers defenseman in
a calendar month since January 1986, when Brian Leetch scored six
times. ... The Rangers also were without LW Chris Kreider (hand), LW
Daniel Carcillo (shoulder), D Justin Falk and RW Ryan Haggerty. ...
Going into Tuesday's game, the Hurricanes were tied with the New
Jersey Devils for the lowest penalty-minutes average per game, 8.1.
They committed three penalties on Tuesday for six minutes. The
Rangers did not have any penalties in the game for the first time
since Jan. 10, 2012, against Phoenix. ... Carolina played without D
Andrej Sekera (lower body), LW Jiri Tlusty (upper body), D Mike
Komisarek and G Justin Peters.
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