Devils Streak by Rangers

The chant of New Jersey Devil fans to taunt the New York Rangers has changed from “1940” to just plain old “19.”

The Devils defeated the Rangers, 4-1, Wednesday night in East Rutherford, N.J., extending their unbeaten streak against their rivals to 19 games.

When the Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup, snapping a 54-year drought, the original chant stopped. But the new jeer was born in the final seconds of Wednesday’s game.

Defensemen Brian Rafalski and Scott Niedermayer scored power-play goals in the second period and Bobby Holik and Patrik Elias also scored for the Devils, who won for the 15th time in 21 games (15-3-3).

New Jersey is 13-0-6 against the Rangers in regular-season games since last losing on Jan. 12, 1997.

Philadelphia 4, Toronto 2--Eric Lindros scored two goals and the Flyers staved off the Maple Leafs’ third-period rally at Toronto.

Florida 4, San Jose 1--Former Shark Ray Sheppard scored two goals and had an assist, leading the Panthers at Sunrise, Fla.

Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 2--Jaromir Jagr set up two of the Penguins’ four goals in the third period and Pittsburgh rallied to defeat the visiting Thrashers, extending Atlanta’s winless streak to 11.

Vancouver 4, Calgary 3--Mark Messier scored two goals and assisted on Mattias Ohlund’s goal 1:22 into overtime as the Canucks defeated the Flames at Vancouver, Canada.

Around the League

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired center Darcy Tucker from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for winger Mike Johnson and defensive prospect Marek Posmyk. . . . Nearly 1,000 people attended a rally in support of keeping the Ottawa Senators from moving to the U.S. The community campaign to save the Senators is in its final day of an attempt to draw 1,500 new season-ticket subscribers.