Lundqvist, Rangers Shut Out Flyers 2-0

It was a stellar night for goalies, as five netminders earned shutouts. <br/><br/>Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 shots for his fourth shutout of the season in the New York Rangers' 2-0 victory over the

Tuesday, November 6th 2007, 7:28 am

By: News On 6

It was a stellar night for goalies, as five netminders earned shutouts.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 shots for his fourth shutout of the season in the New York Rangers' 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.

``I don't know what to say,'' the 25-year-old Swede said. ``Going into the season everybody was talking about our offensive game. But we've been playing a really strict game, defensive hockey, smart hockey. The good part is it starts to pay off.''

Not only has Lundqvist looked incredibly sharp, he has shown no signs of fatigue despite playing all 14 games for the Rangers (7-6-1). New York, which struggled during a 2-5-1 start, won its fourth straight to finish a 5-1 homestand.

The Rangers have scored an NHL-low 25 goals this season and are tied with Columbus for best in the league with just 23 allowed.

``The guys really worked in the third period and didn't allow Philly to create much,'' Lundqvist said. ``We've played like a team that's ahead 10-0 in the third period.''

Pittsburgh's Dany Sabourin, Carolina's Cam Ward, Dallas' Marty Turco and Montreal's Cristobal Huet had their first shutouts of the season. Montreal beat Buffalo 2-0, and the other three shutouts were 5-0: the Penguins at New Jersey, Dallas at Anaheim, and Carolina against Washington.

Turco had 19 saves in his 31st career shutout to help the Stars snap a three-game losing streak.

``We've been playing like dog meat, so it was important for us to execute and be aggressive and play hard for an entire game regardless of the score and who it was against,'' Turco said after his 31st career shutout. ``We're a defensive team, so that's a shutout that everybody feels good about.''

Jere Lehtinen had a goal and two assists, and Mike Ribeiro, Jussi Jokinen, Brenden Morrow and Chris Conner also scored for Dallas. The Stars were 2-for-3 on the power play against a Ducks team that came in having allowed just two goals in 37 short-handed situations at home this season.

In the other games on Monday night, it was: Colorado 4, Calgary 1; Minnesota 5, Edmonton 2; and Florida 4, Tampa Bay 3.

Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan accounted for the Rangers' offense at Madison Square Garden in support of Lundqvist's 11th career shutout.

Jagr, limited by a groin injury Saturday against New Jersey that still required treatment between periods Monday, got the Rangers on the board late in the first on New York's final shot of the period. It was Jagr's third of the season _ and this time it stuck. Jagr thought he scored No. 3 last Monday, but three days later the goal was credited to Shanahan.

``He played great right from his first shift,'' Shanahan said of Jagr. ``The goal he scored is the kind of goal you get confidence from.''

Shanahan's power-play goal made it 2-0 with 3:21 left. He slapped in a feed from Jagr above the right circle.

Martin Biron made 43 saves for the Flyers, who have lost eight of 11 to the Rangers.

At Raleigh, N.C., Cory Stillman completed a hat trick just 11:28 into the game, Eric Staal added two goals and Ward made 35 saves as the Hurricanes improved to 5-1-1 at home.

``We had lots of shots on net and a few good chances but we ran into a very good goaltender again tonight in Ward,'' Washington's Matt Pettinger said.

The Capitals are 2-9-0 in their last 11 games.

At Newark, N.J., Sidney Crosby scored twice for Pittsburgh and Sabourin made 20 saves. Adam Hall, Petr Sykora and Erik Christensen also scored for Penguins.

``I'm pretty happy to get the shutout, but it was a big night for the team,'' Sabourin said. ``They played well in front of me all night.''

Crosby has nine goals this season, and leads the NHL with 12 points on the power play, including his first-period goal.

At Montreal, Huet made 29 saves for his first shutout in nearly a year and Tomas Plekanec scored in the second period.

Huet stopped 16 shots in the first period on his way to his 14th career shutout _ first since Nov. 28 when he beat Florida 1-0 in a shootout.

``They tried to shoot a lot in the first and create some rebounds and second chances off my pads and it gave me a little bit of confidence after that,'' Huet said.

Plekanec scored his fourth goal of the season on a 2-on-1 at 13:04 of the second, and Bryan Smolinski added an empty-netter with 21.8 seconds left. The Canadiens have won six of eight (6-1-1).

Ryan Miller stopped 17 shots for Buffalo, which has lost three in a row (0-2-1).

Avalanche 4, Flames 1

Paul Stastny scored two goals and Wojtek Wolski added a goal and two assists for host Colorado. Milan Hejduk had three assists for the Avalanche, who have beaten the Flames seven straight games dating back to the 2006-07 season.

Jose Theodore stopped 23 shots for the victory.

Jarome Iginla scored his 10th goal of the season for Calgary.

Wild 5, Oilers 2

Niklas Backstrom kept up his mastery of visiting Edmonton, and Mark Parrish scored twice to lead Minnesota. Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Kurtis Foster and Stephane Veilleux also scored and Mikko Koivu had three assists for the Wild.

Dustin Penner and Shawn Horcoff scored for the Oilers.

Panthers 4, Lightning 3

David Booth scored with 1:19 left in the third period and Florida kept Tampa Bay winless on the road.

Olli Jokinen had a goal and two assists, and Ville Peltonen and Steve Montador also scored for the Panthers.

Martin St. Louis, Brad Lukowich and Michel Ouellet scored for the Lightning. Vincent Lecavalier had two assists. Tampa Bay has lost six straight overall and is off to a franchise-worst 0-7 start away from home.