Ranger Offense Shells Capitals

The New York Rangers’ offense didn’t have much trouble solving the Washington Capitals’ defense.

Four Rangers scored and 10 New York players had points for an increasingly diverse scoring machine in Thursday night’s 5-3 victory at Washington, the sixth consecutive game in which the Rangers scored at least four goals.

“Everybody’s been taking turns,” said Theo Fleury, who scored two goals. “It was [Petr] Nedved’s line the other night, it was our line tonight, and [Mark] Messier’s line the other nights. We’re really kind of spreading it around quite a bit. It’s been fun.”

Fleury’s 12th goal of the season on a power play late in the second period put the Rangers ahead for good, and he added his team-high 13th with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Valeri Kamensky, Michael York and Jan Hlavac also scored for the Rangers, who have won five of six to move above .500 at 8-7.

“This wasn’t as much of a grind as I thought it would be,” Ranger Coach Ron Low said. “We got through the neutral zone, keep the tempo up and keep the legs moving. It’s nice to watch from the bench.”

Chris Simon, Peter Bondra and Andrei Nikolishin scored for the Capitals, who remain atop the Southeast Division even though they are five games below .500.

Columbus 5, San Jose 2--Jean-Luc Grand Pierre scored his first NHL goal and assisted on another at Columbus, Ohio, as the Blue Jackets ended the Sharks’ nine-game unbeaten streak.

The five goals were a season high for the expansion franchise.

The Sharks were 7-0-2-0 during the streak and gave up only 25 goals in their first 13 games.

Philadelphia 2, Edmonton 0--Roman Cechmanek recorded his second consecutive shutout and Simon Gagne and Paul Ranheim scored at Philadelphia.

Cechmanek, who won his first NHL game by blanking the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, made 28 saves. His best came when he stopped a hard slap shot by ex-Flyer Janne Niinimaa late in the first period.

Cechmanek, a 29-year-old first-year player from the Czech Republic, is not considered a rookie because of his age. To qualify, a player cannot be over 25 by Sept. 15 prior to the season.

Buffalo 3, New York Islanders 0--Dominik Hasek recorded his first shutout of the season and Alexei Zhitnik and Dave Andreychuk each scored power-play goals at Buffalo, N.Y.

Jason Woolley and Maxim Afinogenov each had two assists for the Sabres. Dennis Hamel scored the other Buffalo goal. Hasek had 22 saves.

It was the first shutout for Hasek since April 6 and the 46th of his career. Hasek is tied with Ken Dryden for 20th place on the NHL’s all-time list.

Colorado 3, St. Louis 3--Joe Sakic tied the Colorado assist record and added a third-period goal as the Avalanche kept the Blues winless in nearly four years at Denver.

Eric Messier also scored in the third period and Adam Foote added a short-handed goal for Colorado, 6-0-2 against the Blues at home since Dec. 6, 1996. Sakic’s assist on Foote’s goal gave him 668 for his career, tying Peter Stastny for the franchise lead.

Pierre Turgeon had two goals and rookie Reed Low added his first goal for the Blues. Roman Turek stopped 19 shots for the Blues as St. Louis extended its unbeaten streak to 7-0-2.

Boston 2, Ottawa 1--Ken Belanger scored his first goal of the season with 2:30 to play and Bruin goalie Andrew Raycroft made 32 saves at Boston.