Defenseman Kevin Klein scored the tie-breaking goal with 2:53 remaining in the third period, Henrik Lundqvist made 36 saves and New York Rangers defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 at American Airlines Center. Klein broke a 2-2 tie when he scored his sixth goal of the season, a wrist shot from the slot that went past the catching glove of Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen.
Chris Kreider and Ryan McDonagh also scored for New York, which won for the fourth time in five games overall and the fifth time in six road games. Klein's goal came 1:08 after Stars forward Valeri Nichushkin scored to tie the game. Colton Sceviour, who assisted on Nichushkin's goal, scored in the second period for Central Division-leading Dallas, which has lost back-to-back games at home.
Kreider gave the Rangers the lead when he redirected Keith Yandle's power-play wrist shot past Lehtonen 4:38 into the second period. Derick Brassard won the faceoff after Jason Demers was called for delay of game and got the puck back to Yandle. Kreider got his stick on Yandle's shot from near the blue line and deflected it into the net for his 13th goal of the season.
Dallas tied it at 9:08 when Sceviour scored his seventh of the season. Lundqvist got his pad on Tyler Seguin's one-timer from the right circle but kicked the rebound into the slot; Sceviour picked it up, stepped to his right and put a low shot into the open right side.
McDonagh put the Rangers back in front at 8:26 of the third period when he flipped a backhand from near the goal line off Lehtonen's left elbow and into the net after Lehtonen stopped Oscar Lindberg's initial shot. Dallas thought they had tied the game again at 9:30, but the officials ruled that Jason Spezza's shot did not completely cross the goal line. The no-goal ruling was upheld after a video review. Dallas did tie it at 15:59 when Nichushkin scored his eighth of the season, a slap shot from the left circle that deflected off Girardi's stick and went past Lundqvist.
Stars captain Jamie Benn nearly put Dallas ahead with 3:37 remaining when his shot from the left circle hit Lundqvist in the chest before glancing off the far post. Lehtonen made 26 saves. Ruff reconfigured his top line, putting Spezza with Benn and Seguin. But other than Seguin's assist on Sceviour's goal, that group had a quiet game.
Ales Hemsky left the ice late in the first period because of illness and did not return.
Stars Quotes
Lindy Ruff: "I thought we had a couple tough turnovers at different times, but I thought our compete [level] and our battle [level], our chances of not giving up the rush plays, were good. Our tracking back and our backchecking were probably the best they've been in a long time. It was a game we could have easily won.""I thought [Nichushkin] started a little slow, but last half of the game, like everybody else, was a lot better. He skated pretty well. He could have had two or three breakaways, scored a big goal for us. It's important for him and important for us too."
"[Hemsky] left with some stomach pain. Right now we don't know what it is. It was nothing that happened during the game. He was getting some pain that had him doubled over."
Colton Sceviour: "There's going to be times where your top guys aren't going to score. It's impossible for them to score 82 games a year. So you need to find scoring up and down the lineup."
Kari Lehtonen: "I made a save and wasn't sure where the puck went. I saw it in the corner and I needed to get back to the net, but he [McDonagh] was smarter than me. He knew that's what I'm going to do and he banked it off of me. Frustrating goal for sure."
Jason Spezza: "I thought it was a goal. I guess if there's no call on the ice, they say it's inconclusive."
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