Jagr Scores 600th Goal in Rangers Win

NEW YORK (AP) _ The New York Rangers needed a good start, and Jaromir Jagr was ready to get another milestone out of the way. <br/><br/>Done, and done. <br/><br/>Jagr scored his 600th NHL goal early in

Monday, November 20th 2006, 6:30 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ The New York Rangers needed a good start, and Jaromir Jagr was ready to get another milestone out of the way.

Done, and done.

Jagr scored his 600th NHL goal early in the first period, and Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves to help the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 Sunday night.

``It is probably going to hit me a little later,'' said Jagr, who became the 16th player to join the 600-goal club. ``I just hope I get a lot more before I retire.''

In other NHL games, Anaheim beat Phoenix 6-4 and Vancouver defeated Chicago 2-1.

Jagr, Martin Straka and Michael Nylander each had a goal and two assists for New York, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Brendan Shanahan added a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to seven games.

A night after a lackluster performance in a 3-1 loss at Pittsburgh, the Rangers applied constant pressure on Tampa Bay goalie Johan Holmqvist, who had won his previous five starts.

``We weren't happy with our start last night and we wanted to get off to a better start,'' Shanahan said. ``It was great Jags got his 600th right off the bat. It was a good way to start our night.''

Lundqvist carried a shutout into the final minutes but Eric Perrin scored with 2:40 left with Marek Malik in the penalty box for hooking.

``I think we've got to be mentally tough and just forget about this, keep plugging away,'' Perrin said.

Jagr beat Holmqvist with a wrist shot just 1:43 in after Nylander redirected Karel Rachunek's slap shot to him in front of the net. It was Jagr's ninth goal of the season and fourth in four games.

Jagr is the second Rangers forward to reach 600 goals this season. Shanahan did it in his debut for New York on Oct. 5 against Washington.

Jagr, in his 16th NHL season and third with the Rangers, moved within one goal of tying Jari Kurri for 15th on the career list.

``When he's got his feet under him and he's going, you're not stopping him,'' New York coach Tom Renney said. ``And if you stop him, it's somebody serving a penalty the way I look at it.''

Canucks 2, Blackhawks 1

Josh Green scored his first goal of the season early in the second period and Roberto Luongo made 13 saves in the third for the Canucks.

Markus Naslund added his 10th goal of the season as Vancouver won consecutive games for the first time in more than three weeks. Luongo finished with 23 saves for the Canucks, who have won three of nine.

Tuomo Ruutu scored the lone goal for the visiting Blackhawks, who had recorded at least one point in the previous five games (3-0-2) following an eight-game losing streak.

Nikolai Khabibulin made his second straight start after missing nine games with a broken finger and kept the Blackhawks in the game despite a 39-23 shots disadvantage.

Ducks 6, Coyotes 4

Chris Kunitz posted his first NHL hat trick and Teemu Selanne had a career-high five assists to lead Anaheim to the win.

The last of Kunitz's three goals broke a 4-4 tie and came on a deflection at 9:21 of the third period, off a 45-foot shot by Selanne.

Rob Niedermayer added an empty-net goal with 2.8 seconds left, his second score of the season.

Andy McDonald had two goals and two assists for the Ducks, who defeated the Coyotes for the third time this season and eighth in a row overall.

Ed Jovanovski had a goal and two assists for visiting Phoenix. Mike Zigomanis, Georges Laraque and Yanic Perreault also scored for the Coyotes.