Great One Still Has His Powers

The goals don’t come as often as they did in his younger days, but they still come often enough to allow Wayne Gretzky to make an impact for the New York Rangers.

Gretzky had two power-play goals and an assist at Miami on Wednesday to lift the New York Rangers to a 4-3 victory over Florida, extending the Panthers’ winless streak to six games (0-5-1).

Gretzky iced the final meeting of the regular season between the Atlantic Division rivals when he swatted in a rebound of Brian Leetch’s slap shot at 6:58 of the third period. It was Leetch’s second assist and Gretzky’s second goal of the game, giving him 15 for the season and a league-record 877 in his career. It was also Gretzky’s 138th two-goal game.

The Rangers are 2-2 since John Muckler took over as coach for the fired Colin Campbell.

Montreal 3, Dallas 1--Andy Moog frustrated his former teammates with a 24-save performance at Dallas as the Canadiens ended the Stars’ six-game unbeaten streak.

Moog registered his 370th victory, which enabled Montreal to end a four-game losing streak.

Moog was the Stars’ No. 1 goaltender in their first four seasons in Dallas before signing a free-agent contract with the Canadiens in the off-season.

The Stars, playing their first game without injured defensemen Sergei Zubov and Derian Hatcher, were 5-0-1 in their previous six games.

Colorado 5, Toronto 3--Keith Jones, attempting to regain his touch after a serious knee injury, scored a goal and added two assists at Toronto. Playing in only his fourth game since suffering a torn ligament in his left knee in last year’s playoffs, Jones scored his first goal since April 13, 1997.

And it turned out to be the game-winner, coming at 3:52 of the third period.

Peter Forsberg added two assists for Colorado to take over the NHL scoring lead with 73 points. He also has a league-leading 52 assists.

Edmonton 4, Tampa Bay 2--The Oilers won their third straight by holding off a late Lightning charge at Edmonton.

Daymond Langkow’s goal appeared to give Tampa Bay the lead in the first period, but it was disallowed when a video replay showed Jason Wiemer standing just inside the goal crease.

Stephane Richer scored both goals for the Lightning on power plays.