W-OLF
03-21-2006, 03:07 PM
Rangers Top Bruins in Leetch's Return
Published: 3/21/06, 5:25 AM EDT
(AP) - The New York Rangers spoiled Brian Leetch's return to Madison Square Garden.
Michal Rozsival had a goal and two assists to lead the Rangers to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in Leetch's first game against his former team.
Leetch, the highest-scoring defenseman in Rangers history, received a rousing ovation when he was introduced as part of Boston's starting lineup. He nervously slid his stick from side to side when he lined up on the blue line while waiting for the national anthem.
One video highlight of Leetch's Rangers career, along with still pictures, was shown on the center ice scoreboard with the message, "Thank You Brian" as a backdrop.
Many fans wore Leetch's former No. 2 while he was dressed in Boston whites with a 22 on the back. They cheered him from the pregame warmups and through a second-period penalty before chanting his name when he touched the puck's in the closing minutes.
"It reminded me of sitting in Yankee Stadium at the beginning of the games when the guys in the bleachers are yelling out to all the guys in the field," Leetch said. "You are used to going into a building and they are for you or against you. It's never in between like that. It was really a different night."
In other games, it was: Atlanta 5, Buffalo 0; Montreal 4, Washington 2; Florida 6, Tampa Bay 5 in overtime; Nashville 4, St. Louis 2; Anaheim 2, Dallas 1; Colorado 5, Los Angeles 0.
After the brief pregame tribute, the rest of the night was quite a downer for Leetch, who was on the ice for two New York goals.
"I skated around in a fog out there," Leetch said in the visitors' locker room that he never entered before Monday. "Unfortunately it showed and our team played that way, too. It's hard to play a hockey game when your mind is like that."
Steve Rucchin and Petr Sykora assisted on Rozsival's power-play goal in the first period and Martin Straka's even-strength tally in the second for the Rangers, who won their third straight after a six-game losing streak and stretched their Atlantic Division-lead to four points over the Philadelphia Flyers.
"It feels like the way we played before the (Olympic) break," said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 19 saves in his third straight win.
Boston had a two-game winning streak snapped and is 3-8-2 in its last 13 games. The Bruins are in 13th place and eight points out of a playoff spot.
The Rangers took leads of 3-0 and 4-1, but Boston responded quickly each time to cut the deficits back to two goals. Hal Gill scored his first in 88 games at 8:50 of the second, just 24 ticks after Straka's goal that led Sullivan to burn his timeout.
Nylander scored his 18th goal 6:18 into the third, and Brad Boyes got his 22nd goal at 6:29.
Dominic Moore sealed it with 5:16 remaining, making it 5-2 and safe for fans to chant Leetch's name as the clock wound down.
Thrashers 5, Sabres 0
At Atlanta, Kari Lehtonen stopped 20 shots for his second shutout of the season and the Thrashers remained one point behind eighth-place Montreal in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Buffalo suffered its second straight loss following an eight-game winning streak.
Ilya Kovalchuk, Peter Bondra, Slava Kozlov, Steve McCarthy and Jaroslav Modry scored for Atlanta.
Canadiens 4, Capitals 2
Michael Komisarek got his first career goal as visiting Montreal scored three times in just over 2 minutes in the second period to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Canadiens got three goals in a stretch of 2:06 in the second period. Michael Ryder scored tiebreaking goal at 7:28, Alexander Perezhogin made it 3-1 at 9:08, and Mathieu Dandenault scored on a wrist shot from in front just 26 seconds later.
Panthers 6, Lightning 5, OT
At Sunrise, Fla., Olli Jokinen scored on a breakaway with 1:44 left in overtime, helping Florida recover after squandering a four-goal lead in the third period to win for the sixth time in seven games.
Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis scored twice, and Ryan Craig and Brad Richards once each in the third to force overtime.
Jozef Stumpel had two goals, and Ric Jackman, Steve Montador and Juraj Kolnik also scored for Florida.
Predators 4, Blues 2
Scott Nichol scored twice and Paul Kariya and Kimmo Timonen each added power-play goals as Nashville completed a perfect four-game homestand.
St. Louis got on the board with 4 seconds left in the second, and Jay McClement capped the scoring with 24 seconds left.
Mighty Ducks 2, Stars 1
Samuel Pahlsson scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:15 remaining and Anaheim ended Dallas' eight-game home winning steak.
Antii Miettinen had a power-play goal at 3:19 of the second period for the Pacific Division-leading Stars, whose home streak matched the second-longest in franchise history.
Andy McDonald tied it with his 25th goal at 5:57 of the third while the teams skated four-on-four.
Avalanche 5, Kings 0
Joe Sakic had two goals and two assists and visiting Colorado avoided its first season sweep at the hands of Los Angeles.
Rookie Peter Budaj stopped 21 shots for his second shutout in just over a week, and Ian Laperriere, Andrew Brunette and Antti Laaksonen also scored.
credit BellSouth
Published: 3/21/06, 5:25 AM EDT
(AP) - The New York Rangers spoiled Brian Leetch's return to Madison Square Garden.
Michal Rozsival had a goal and two assists to lead the Rangers to a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in Leetch's first game against his former team.
Leetch, the highest-scoring defenseman in Rangers history, received a rousing ovation when he was introduced as part of Boston's starting lineup. He nervously slid his stick from side to side when he lined up on the blue line while waiting for the national anthem.
One video highlight of Leetch's Rangers career, along with still pictures, was shown on the center ice scoreboard with the message, "Thank You Brian" as a backdrop.
Many fans wore Leetch's former No. 2 while he was dressed in Boston whites with a 22 on the back. They cheered him from the pregame warmups and through a second-period penalty before chanting his name when he touched the puck's in the closing minutes.
"It reminded me of sitting in Yankee Stadium at the beginning of the games when the guys in the bleachers are yelling out to all the guys in the field," Leetch said. "You are used to going into a building and they are for you or against you. It's never in between like that. It was really a different night."
In other games, it was: Atlanta 5, Buffalo 0; Montreal 4, Washington 2; Florida 6, Tampa Bay 5 in overtime; Nashville 4, St. Louis 2; Anaheim 2, Dallas 1; Colorado 5, Los Angeles 0.
After the brief pregame tribute, the rest of the night was quite a downer for Leetch, who was on the ice for two New York goals.
"I skated around in a fog out there," Leetch said in the visitors' locker room that he never entered before Monday. "Unfortunately it showed and our team played that way, too. It's hard to play a hockey game when your mind is like that."
Steve Rucchin and Petr Sykora assisted on Rozsival's power-play goal in the first period and Martin Straka's even-strength tally in the second for the Rangers, who won their third straight after a six-game losing streak and stretched their Atlantic Division-lead to four points over the Philadelphia Flyers.
"It feels like the way we played before the (Olympic) break," said Henrik Lundqvist, who made 19 saves in his third straight win.
Boston had a two-game winning streak snapped and is 3-8-2 in its last 13 games. The Bruins are in 13th place and eight points out of a playoff spot.
The Rangers took leads of 3-0 and 4-1, but Boston responded quickly each time to cut the deficits back to two goals. Hal Gill scored his first in 88 games at 8:50 of the second, just 24 ticks after Straka's goal that led Sullivan to burn his timeout.
Nylander scored his 18th goal 6:18 into the third, and Brad Boyes got his 22nd goal at 6:29.
Dominic Moore sealed it with 5:16 remaining, making it 5-2 and safe for fans to chant Leetch's name as the clock wound down.
Thrashers 5, Sabres 0
At Atlanta, Kari Lehtonen stopped 20 shots for his second shutout of the season and the Thrashers remained one point behind eighth-place Montreal in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Buffalo suffered its second straight loss following an eight-game winning streak.
Ilya Kovalchuk, Peter Bondra, Slava Kozlov, Steve McCarthy and Jaroslav Modry scored for Atlanta.
Canadiens 4, Capitals 2
Michael Komisarek got his first career goal as visiting Montreal scored three times in just over 2 minutes in the second period to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Canadiens got three goals in a stretch of 2:06 in the second period. Michael Ryder scored tiebreaking goal at 7:28, Alexander Perezhogin made it 3-1 at 9:08, and Mathieu Dandenault scored on a wrist shot from in front just 26 seconds later.
Panthers 6, Lightning 5, OT
At Sunrise, Fla., Olli Jokinen scored on a breakaway with 1:44 left in overtime, helping Florida recover after squandering a four-goal lead in the third period to win for the sixth time in seven games.
Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis scored twice, and Ryan Craig and Brad Richards once each in the third to force overtime.
Jozef Stumpel had two goals, and Ric Jackman, Steve Montador and Juraj Kolnik also scored for Florida.
Predators 4, Blues 2
Scott Nichol scored twice and Paul Kariya and Kimmo Timonen each added power-play goals as Nashville completed a perfect four-game homestand.
St. Louis got on the board with 4 seconds left in the second, and Jay McClement capped the scoring with 24 seconds left.
Mighty Ducks 2, Stars 1
Samuel Pahlsson scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:15 remaining and Anaheim ended Dallas' eight-game home winning steak.
Antii Miettinen had a power-play goal at 3:19 of the second period for the Pacific Division-leading Stars, whose home streak matched the second-longest in franchise history.
Andy McDonald tied it with his 25th goal at 5:57 of the third while the teams skated four-on-four.
Avalanche 5, Kings 0
Joe Sakic had two goals and two assists and visiting Colorado avoided its first season sweep at the hands of Los Angeles.
Rookie Peter Budaj stopped 21 shots for his second shutout in just over a week, and Ian Laperriere, Andrew Brunette and Antti Laaksonen also scored.
credit BellSouth