NHL ROUNDUP : Are Rangers Seeing New Star On Rise?

The New York Rangers expect 19-year-old rookie Alexei Kovalev to become a star some day. He might have arrived ahead of schedule.

Kovalev, the first Russian ever picked in the opening round of the NHL draft when he was taken by the Rangers in 1991, scored the tiebreaking goal with 4:04 left as the Rangers defeated the Washington Capitals, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night.

The game marked the first time this season that Kovalev played a regular shift with Adam Graves and Mark Messier on the Rangers’ top line.

“He’s a tremendous talent,” Messier said. “His goal was instinctive . . . and the star players certainly have the knack of doing that.”

Montreal 8, San Jose 4--Denis Savard set up three first-period goals at Montreal as the Canadians breezed past the struggling Sharks (1-5-0) for their third consecutive victory.

The Canadians (4-3-1) beaten Minnesota, 8-1, last Saturday, and St. Louis, 6-2, on Monday night after scoring only 15 goals in its first five games.

Savard said his recent switch back to center has helped his scoring.

“At center, you have the puck more and that’s my kind of game,” Savard said.

Buffalo 4, Chicago 1--Pat LaFontaine, Petr Svoboda and Dave Andreychuk scored power-play goals against the Blackhawks (2-4-1) at Buffalo.

Daren Puppa had a shutout before Christian Ruuttu scored his first goal of the season at 4:12.

Quebec 5, St. Louis 5--Steve Duchesne’s goal with 1:31 left in regulation allowed the Nordiques (4-1-1) to tie the Blues (2-5-1) in St. Louis.

Craig Janney put the Blues ahead, 5-4, at 4:55 of the final period with one of the eight power-play goals in the game, but Duchesne tied the score with his third goal of the season.