Rangers Are Good to the Last Shot

The New York Rangers scored on their first and last shots.

New York’s Petr Nedved tied the score with 19 seconds left in regulation, and Tim Taylor scored 1:04 into overtime to give the Rangers a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Capitals at Washington.

New York’s offense had done little recently, scoring only 13 goals as the Rangers went 1-6-2 in their last nine games. But Nedved scored on the Rangers’ first shot of the game and Taylor scored late.

Taylor put a pass from Mike Knuble past Washington goaltender Olaf Kolzig for the winning goal.

Despite Nedved’s early goal, the Rangers trailed throughout the game. Washington took leads of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3, but New York kept coming back.

“This could be the turning point as far as our season,” Nedved said. “When they scored the fourth goal, we stayed positive on the bench even though it was really hard.”

Nedved and Michael York each scored two goals for the Rangers, who also got 30 saves in a strong effort from goalie Mike Richter.

Adam Oates had a goal and an assist for Washington, scoring his first goal since the Capitals’ 66th game of last season. Calle Johansson also got a goal and an assist. The assist was his 300th as a Capital, and Scott Stevens is the only other Washington defenseman to reach that total.

Despite the win, the Rangers came up empty on all four power plays. They have gone scoreless on all 35 extra-man chances in road games and scored on only four of 76 power plays this year.

Philadelphia 4, Carolina 1--Eric Lindros, Eric Desjardins and Sandy McCarthy scored second-period goals to lead the Flyers at Philadelphia.

Mark Recchi added an empty-net goal with 45 seconds left, while Valeri Zelepukin and John LeClair added two assists for the Flyers, who are 9-2-1 after going 0-5-1 to start the season.

LeClair has 10 points in his last six games, the longest current scoring streak in the NHL.

Boston 4, Toronto 3--P.J. Axelsson scored with 1:02 remaining in overtime and Dave Andreychuk scored two third-period goals, to rally the Bruins at Boston.

Ray Bourque added three assists for the Bruins, who have won five in a row at home and are unbeaten in their last seven home games.

Andreychuk is tied with Jaromir Jagr of Pittsburgh for the league lead with 13 goals in 17 games and is only two shy of his total from last season.

Nashville 2, Ottawa 1--Greg Johnson and Robert Valicevic each scored to give the Predators a victory at Kanata, Canada.

Valicevic broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period as the Predators rallied to win and halt Ottawa’s three-game winning streak.

Wade Redden scored for Ottawa, which lost for just the second time in 10 home games.