Rangers Go Home and Win Again

Mark Messier had two goals and two assists and Pat Verbeek scored twice on the power play, including the 400th goal of his career, Wednesday night as the New York Rangers defeated the San Jose Sharks, 7-4, and extended their home-ice unbeaten streak to 19 games.

The Sharks lost their seventh in a row.

Brian Leetch scored the tiebreaker and set up another goal in the third period as the Rangers improved to 16-0-3 at Madison Square Garden since losing there Oct. 22. The streak is the second longest in club history, behind only the 24-game streak (17-0-7) of the 1970-71 club.

Vancouver 2, Montreal 2--Jyrki Lumme’s goal 9:55 into the second period helped pull the Canucks into a tie with the Canadiens at Montreal. Esa Tikkanen also scored as the Canucks erased a two-goal Montreal lead with a pair of power-play goals.

Andrei Kovalenko and Vladimir Malakhov scored in the first period for Montreal. The Canadiens have won only one of their last eight games (1-4-3).

Detroit 4, Dallas 0--All-Star goalie Chris Osgood stopped 25 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Red Wings spoiled the NHL coaching debut of Ken Hitchcock by defeating the Stars in Dallas.

Detroit’s Scotty Bowman picked up his 943th career victory and coached in his 1,613 game, both league records.

Winnipeg 4, Buffalo 1--Keith Tkachuk scored two power-play goals to lead the Jets to victory at home over the Sabres at Winnipeg.

Colorado 4, Florida 4--Scott Young scored twice and Paul Brousseau added his first career NHL goal in the third period as the Avalanche came from behind for an overtime tie with the Panthers at Denver.

Calgary 3, Hartford 2--Sandy McCarthy’s goal about two minutes into overtime lifted the Flames to victory over the Whalers at Calgary.

NHL Notes

New York Ranger defenseman Doug Lidster is expected to sit out at least four weeks after undergoing surgery to repair three fractures in his right cheek. . . . New York Islander right wing Mick Vukota, who hasn’t played since Dec. 23 because of a broken right thumb, will have surgery today and miss at least six weeks.