Gretzky Still Loves His Home Away From Home

Maple Leaf Gardens has always been Wayne Gretzky’s hockey home away from home.

He grew up an hour’s drive away in Brantford, Ontario. Family members are always in the crowd, and he enjoys putting on a show for them.

On Saturday night, he did it again, scoring his 54th goal in 58 career games at Toronto as the New York Rangers beat the Maple Leafs, 4-0.

“I always love playing in Maple Leaf Gardens,” Gretzky said after taking the bow as the game’s first star--for the second consecutive night. “It’s one of the the great places of all time.

“If you can’t get excited to play here, you can never be excited about the game. It’s really a special place. It’s always fun to come in here and play here. It’s got great atmosphere and great history.”

Glenn Healy had 24 saves as the surging Rangers completed a sweep of back-to-back games against the Maple Leafs with a 4-0 victory Saturday night.

The loss was the 10th in 13 games for the Maple Leafs, who blew a 5-4 lead in the waning minutes Friday night in 6-5 loss to the Rangers in New York. The victory left the Rangers unbeaten (5-0-1) in their last six games.

The Rangers won despite the absence Mark Messier who sat out after aggravating a wrist injury.

Montreal 3, Chicago 2--Saku Koivu scored the go-ahead goal 39 seconds into the third period at Montreal.

Koivu broke a 2-2 tie when he deked Chris Chelios to the ice and then beat goaltender Jeff Hackett with a low wrist shot to the glove side, his 13th goal this season. Koivu, who leads Montreal with 38 points, left the game about three minutes later after injuring his left knee and did not return.

Ottawa 3, Vancouver 2--Steve Duchesne’s controversial power-play goal 4:57 into the second period provided the difference at Vancouver.

With the score tied, 1-1, Wade Redden’s shot was stopped by Corey Hirsch. As the rebound kicked out to Duchesne at the edge of the right faceoff circle, Daniel Alfredsson appeared to catch the back of Hirsch’s leg pad with his stick, preventing him from positioning himself for the rebound.

Hartford 6, Buffalo 4--Kevin Dineen broke a 4-4 tie during a three-goal surge early in the final period at Hartford, Conn.

Dineen was off his skates when he gave Hartford a 5-4 lead at 4:16, diving toward the net as he swiped in a backhander off a rebound of a shot by Geoff Sanderson.

Calgary 1, Boston 1--Theoren Fleury scored with 1:48 left in the second period to give the last-place Flames a tie at Boston.

Fleury picked up the rebound of German Titov’s shot behind the Bruins’ net and found an opening between the post and goaltender Bill Ranford, getting his 13th goal.

New York Islanders 2, Washington 0--Tommy Salo stopped 24 shots to earn his second career shutout, and Bryan Smolinski and Niklas Andersson scored goals at Uniondale, N.Y.

Phoenix 4, New Jersey 3--Darrin Shannon scored at 2:03 of overtime as the Coyotes rallied from a 2-0 deficit at East Rutherford, N.J.

Tampa Bay 4, San Jose 3--Cory Cross scored with 57 seconds remaining to lift the Lightning at San Jose.