Biron's 27 saves helps Rangers top Jets

WINNIPEG, Canada -- It wasn't exactly a jailbreak, but the Rangers raced to their charter knowing they were part of a Great Escape.

After being dominated in the third period of a 1-1 game Monday night, and with the reborn Jets being spurred on by a charged-up sellout crowd at MTS Centre, Ryan Callahan's pass in front from the right side took a fortunate bounce off defenseman Zach Bogosian's skate and past goaltender Chris Mason at 8:41 for what would be the game-winner.

"I saw Dubi and Feds [Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko] crashing the net and I was looking to go across," Callahan said, "and sometimes when the puck's not going in for you, those are the ones that get you started, so it was good to see."

For the 3-2-2 Rangers, another pleasant sight was the performance of backup goaltender Martin Biron, who hadn't played in an NHL game since last February, when his collarbone was broken in practice. In the locker room across from Callahan, he ended up wearing the Broadway hat, the black fedora awarded to the MVP of a win.

Subbing for Henrik Lundqvist for the first time this season, Biron was under siege, particularly in the third period as the Jets (2-5-1) dominated play. But Biron kept the Rangers in the game with stunning saves, 27 in all, to give them a 3-1 mark on this western trip.

"I think our conditioning came through," Biron said of his teammates, who blocked nine shots in the third period. "They stuck with it, they blocked a lot of shots . . . The post was probably the key to the game; the puck goes across the crease to the other side. You've got to take the bounces when they come, and that's the one we needed."

John Tortorella -- who blew up the lines after the first intermission, cutting back on Marian Gaborik's shifts, moving Artem Anisimov to the fourth line and shifting Dubinsky back to center -- was pleased to get out of Canada with two more points, no matter the means.

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"We score a couple, we're ugly as hell, our goaltending gives us an opportunity right on through here," Tortorella said. "In this league, you grab the points and get the hell out of here. Because there's going to be certain times when we play our best game and we're going to lose. I'm happy we're going home."

After Nik Antropov capitalized on a turnover -- Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust couldn't clear the defensive zone -- by firing a shot short-side past Biron to tie the score at 1 at 14:29 of the second period, it appeared that at times, the Rangers were on a penalty-kill. They produced only 17 shots overall.

But Fedotenko, who had scored on a deflection of a sliding slap-pass from Dan Girardi to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 5:51 of the second period on a power play, was dragged down on a breakaway at 7:49 of the third. Less than a minute later, Callahan got lucky with their second power-play goal, only the Rangers' third in 28 chances.

"No matter how you do it, it's big points," Callahan said. "At the end of the year, it might be the difference."

Notes & quotes:Midway through the first period, there was a report from a Swedish newspaper that the Rangers had made an offer to defenseman Anton Stralman, 25, who didn't receive a qualifying offer from the Blue Jackets and had a tryout with the Devils. The Rangers had no comment.