Rangers beat Blues for seventh straight win

The righthanded fist pump started low and ended up high, with Ryan McDonagh balancing on one skate at the blue line as cheers erupted at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers captain had just unleashed a slap shot through a screen and past Blues goaltender Brian Elliott for a power-play goal at 2:44 of the third period, giving the Blueshirts a two-goal lead over St. Louis that they would gamely protect against a formidable foe.

Dan Girardi's empty-netter with 1:33 left finished the 6-3 victory. It was a season high in goals for the Rangers and their seventh win in a row. Perhaps the most significant number is that with their 12-2-2 record, they have compiled their most points (26) after 16 games in franchise history.

"Huge," Girardi said of McDonagh's goal. "That was the turning point. When you're up against a team like that, I mean, we were up 3-0 and we knew they'd keep coming. With a one-goal lead going into the third, Mac's goal was crucial. Then we had to lock it down."

Although the Rangers were ahead 3-1 after 20 minutes, there was a growing sense that the Blues were taking control. At 5:24 of the second, Vlad Tarasenko blistered a top-shelf shot over Henrik Lundqvist's glove and closed the gap to 3-2.

J.T. Miller's third of the season stopped the bleeding for the moment when his slapper deflected in off Jori Lehtera's skate in front at 10:21.

But the Blues came back, taking advantage of a loose Rangers defense with 10 seconds left on Derick Brassard's hooking penalty. Robby Fabbri found Troy Brouwer in front, and he tipped the puck past Lundqvist at 14:21 to make the score 4-3. It was the Blues' final goal and Lundqvist ended up with 31 saves.

Rick Nash forced a holding penalty on Brouwer and McDonagh's point shot went through Nash's screen. It was the captain's second goal in two games.

"We got caught turning the puck over in the neutral zone in the second, resulted in a couple goals, but we didn't panic," McDonagh said. "That's a big physical team that makes you pay if you're not defending well. I liked the way we matched the pace and the physicality."

The Rangers chased goalie Jake Allen, who had carried a shutout streak of 166 minutes into the game, with three goals on five shots in 14:38, and Elliott replaced him.

Brassard started the charge after Mats Zuccarello, behind the net, saw him on the doorstep and went tape-to-tape at 4:54. Zuccarello then split the defense, scooting through Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo, and beating Allen at 7:12 with his team-leading eighth goal. Brassard collected an assist, and Nash his second. The line recorded six points on two shots.

Viktor Stalberg, on a rush from the right side, fed Kevin Hayes, who blew past Scott Gomez to the slot, deked Allen and slid the puck under him for a 3-0 lead.

But the Blues, who had won the first three games on this road trip, didn't fold, controlling the play for the rest of the period. When Lundqvist couldn't hold onto Colton Parayko's blast, Dmitri Jaskin put in the loose puck at 16:40.

"It was a good test for us, and finding a way to cash in on a couple mistakes they made," Lundqvist said. "It's big for us to beat this team."