Henrik Lundqvist became the New York Rangers' all-time saves leader and first goalie in NHL history to record 30 wins in 10 of his first 11 seasons, and Chris Kreider scored the tie-breaking goal in the third period of a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. Lundqvist made 35 saves to give him 17,404, surpassing Mike Richter (17,379). Lundqvist also moved into third place in NHL history for seasons with 30-or-more wins with his 10th after defeating the Blues. Lundqvist also tied Tom Barrasso for 16th place with his 369th victory.
Kreider scored his 12th of the season from the slot at 4:18 of the third period off a backhand pass from Oscar Lindberg. The goal came after Lundqvist stopped Scottie Upshall's breakaway attempt and moments after Dmitrij Jaskin had a chance to give the Blues a lead. Lundqvist extended his right leg to make that save. Tanner Glass scored for the Rangers, who have won four of five on the road and conclude a three-game trip Saturday at the Dallas Stars.
The Blues, who lost their second straight and center Jori Lehtera in the first period after he was hit in the face with an inadvertent puck, got a goal from Troy Brouwer. Jake Allen made 21 saves in his first start since Jan. 8. The frustration boiled over for Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who lamented an ongoing problem for the Blues, which is not generating enough play in the "dirty areas."
McDonagh (jaw/neck) returned after missing two games and defenseman Marc Staal (lower body) returned after missing a 5-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. Glass scored his second goal of the season that gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 6:46 remaining in the first period when he tipped Dan Girardi's right point shot past Allen.
The Blues tied it on a power play when Brouwer was able to deflect in Paul Stastny's shot from the right point with 5:37 remaining in the second period. It was Brouwer's 12th goal of the season. The Blues continued to push, but Lundqvist was dialed in.
Blues Quotes
Scottie Upshall: "I thought he was going to go butterfly on me and I tried to get it up above his pad on the glove side. I knew [Ryan] McDonagh was coming down on me. He's a big goalie. He's big in his net, he makes key saves at key times and he made some good stops down the stretch. Those are plays in the game that are momentum-changers. For us, I think we carried most of the momentum in the second and in the third. That play ends up being the play of the game. Unfortunately, we're on the other side of that. It [stinks]; it's tough."
Ken Hitchcock: "Their goalie outworked us. Their goalie was more determined than we were. We didn't bear down around the net. We had opportunities around the net and their goalie outworked us. ...We've got to see a change here. Living on playing well and working hard, we've got to see another gear, a little determination and hunger around the net if we expect to score goals. You're not going to get soft goaltending like we got in a couple games where we scored goals. This is focused teams right now with focused goaltending. We're going to have to be a lot more aggressive."
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