Rangers’ Hard Work Ends Detroit Drought

Victories don’t come easily in Detroit for the New York Rangers, so they’re savoring one that just might get them pointed in the right direction in the playoff race.

Niklas Sundstrom scored with 4:42 remaining and Mike Richter made 38 saves Saturday night as the Rangers beat the Red Wings, 3-2, for their first victory in Joe Louis Arena in almost seven years.

“We’re playing harder,” Ranger center Wayne Gretzky said. “We didn’t have an exceptional game tonight, but we were good enough to win.”

Gretzky, who had a second-period assist, left the game in the third period when he aggravated a rib cage pull that has been bothering him. He hoped he could play Monday against Washington in Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers’ last victory at Detroit was March 20, 1992.

Colorado 5, San Jose 0--Joe Sakic scored two goals in a game for the third time in his last five games as the Avalanche won at Denver, tying a franchise record with its eighth consecutive victory.

Goaltender Patrick Roy recorded his 45th shutout and moved within three career victories of 400.

Sakic has 11 goals and 11 assists in 12 games in January.

Ottawa 9, New York Islanders 2--Alexei Yashin scored his 21st and 22nd goals and added an assist at Kanata, Ontario, as the Senators set a club record for goals in a game.

The nine goals topped the modern-era Senators’ record of seven goals, accomplished four times. The seven-goal margin of victory also set a club record, besting the previous mark of six.

Yashin received his usual warm ovation from the crowd in the team’s first appearance at home since his dispute with the National Arts Centre began.

Since it was disclosed Jan. 19 that Yashin had rescinded the remaining $800,000 of a five-year, $1-million donation to the NAC, both sides have held news conferences defending their interpretation of events.

Philadelphia 6, Tampa Bay 2--John LeClair scored his NHL-leading 30th and 31st goals for the Flyers at Philadelphia, giving him four goals in two games.

Rod Brind’Amour scored twice and extended the NHL’s longest current consecutive-games streak to 449 despite badly bruised ribs.

Dallas 5, Florida 2--Tony Hrkac scored two unassisted goals to lift the Stars at Sunrise, Fla.

Brett Hull scored his 19th goal, giving him a goal in each of his last five games.

Toronto 5, Washington 3--Steve Sullivan, Garry Valk and Sergei Berezin scored in a 2:36 span in the second period to lead the Maple Leafs at Toronto.

Pittsburgh 5, Boston 2--Alexei Kovalev scored twice and assisted on Kevin Hatcher’s third-period tiebreaking goal at Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr did not have a point, ending his point-scoring streak at 13 games, best in the NHL this season.

Carolina 3, Montreal 1--Arturs Irbe made 44 saves and Robert Kron scored twice, as the Hurricanes, despite managing only 10 shots, won at Montreal.

Nashville 3, New Jersey 2--Sebastien Bordeleau scored with 2:17 left in overtime and Mike Dunham had 27 saves leading the Predators at East Rutherford, N.J.

Calgary 4, St. Louis 3--Jeff Shantz scored at 3:21 of overtime to give the Flames the victory at Calgary.

Theoren Fleury took a long pass from Derek Morris and flipped the puck ahead to Shantz, who beat goaltender Rich Parent with a low shot inside the post.

Vancouver 3, Chicago 2--Markus Naslund scored the go-ahead goal with 8:45 left at Vancouver as the Canucks won their first game under Coach Marc Crawford, who replaced the fired Mike Keenan.