NHL ROUNDUP : Senators Easy Prey for Rangers and New Coach

The New York Rangers got their first victory under interim Coach Ron Smith Wednesday night. Hardly shocking news though, since the opponent was the sorrowful Ottawa Senators.

The Senators remained winless on the road, losing, 6-2, at Madison Square Garden. The Senators (3-36-3) don’t even have a point away from home, having lost all 20 of their road games.

Smith, who replaced fired Roger Neilson on Monday, guided the Rangers to a 3-3 tie with the New Jersey Devils in his first game at the helm.

“This was a big game for us, and for a lot of reasons,” Ranger captain Mark Messier said. “It looks like with Jersey we started to play well.

Against Senator goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz, the Rangers scored five goals on their first 13 shots. By the time rookie defenseman Sergei Zubov scored his second goal of the night at 13:10 of the second period, Sidorkiewicz was replaced by Daniel Berthiaume.

“Obviously, it was not a good night for me,” Sidorkiewicz said. “I was seeing the puck well. It was just one of those nights where they were getting it by me.”

The NHL record for consecutive road losses is 37, held by the expansion Washington Capitals in 1974-75.

New Jersey 5, Minnesota 1--Herb Brooks has been asking one of his centers to step up and start scoring, and finally one has.

Alexander Semak, who barely understands a word his coach is saying, extended his goal-scoring streak to five games by tallying twice as the Devils won at East Rutherford, N.J.

“He’s real feisty,” Brooks said, referring to the Russian who is in his second year in the NHL. “He gets under your skin. If you look at the plus-minus numbers, he’s been plus almost all year long.”

Part of the reason for that is that Brooks has allowed Semak to skate on a line with fellow Russian Valeri Zelepukin and Bobby Holik, a Czech national.

“All they do is nod at me,” said Brooks, whose five centers have combined for 32 goals. “I’ve said some really intelligent things and they nod at me, and I’ve said some really crazy things and all they do is nod.”

Buffalo 3, Hartford 1--Pat LaFontaine scored with 52 seconds left to break a tie, then added an empty-net goal as the Sabres won at Hartford.

It was the fourth victory in a row for the Sabres, while Hartford is 0-5-1 in it last six games.

Vancouver 5, Toronto 2--Anatoli Semenov, Geoff Courtnall and Sergio Momesso scored in a 2:11 span of the third period to give the Canucks a victory at Toronto, extending the Canucks’ undefeated streak to nine games. The Canucks are 15-2-2 in their last 19 games.