Rangers top Habs for third straight win

It was late in the second period last night at Madison Square Garden, and the Rangers' three-goal lead had been cut to one by the Canadiens on goals by Max Pacioretty and Andrei Kostitsyn, on a five-on-three.

But with 1:10 left in the period, Rangers center Brad Richards cut across the Montreal blue line, fronted by defenseman Yannick Weber. Richards used Weber as a screen and fired a high shot past the glove of Carey Price to restore a two-goal margin, and the Rangers held on for a 5-3 win.

Richards' fourth goal of the season helped the Rangers to their third straight win, all at home. The Canadiens' winning streak ended at four games.

"I was just looking for a way to get a shot through [Weber]," Richards said. "I hesitated and [Price] moved a bit. I had nowhere else to go but glove side."

Brian Gionta cut the Rangers' lead to 4-3 with 1:50 left in the third, slapping a rolling puck from the left point that bounced through players and over Henrik Lundqvist's shoulder. But Ryan Callahan scored from center ice into an empty net with 38 seconds left to seal it.

Erik Christensen, Dan Girardi and Michael Del Zotto scored in the first period to give the Rangers, who outshot Montreal 16-3, a 3-0 lead.

Tempers flared early. Mike Blunden stepped off the bench and leveled Brandon Dubinsky, who had the puck at his feet at mid-ice, with his shoulder at 4:18 to ignite a brawl. Callahan made a beeline toward Blunden in the corner and dropped the gloves. "Great fight by Cally," coach John Tortorella said.

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The Rangers' Michael Sauer scrapped with Petteri Nokelainen and both were given fighting majors and game misconducts for a second altercation, leaving the Rangers with only five defensemen the rest of the game.

Blunden was given an interference penalty and the Canadiens also had a too-many-men penalty on the play. On the Rangers' ensuing five-on-three, Christensen buried it from the right post off a cross-ice pass from Derek Stepan with 39 seconds gone in the two-man advantage.

Girardi's second goal of the season came at 10:28, on a slap shot after Artem Anismov attempted a wraparound. Del Zotto, with a sweet cut-in and backhander through the five-hole on Price, netted the third goal, which also was set up by Stepan, at 17:40.

"Not so much the finish, it's what his mind-set is,'' Tortorella said. "Danny [Girardi] blocks a shot and Del Z is up the ice right away . . . His decision-making gets better and better."

But then the Rangers had to fight off the Canadiens with essentially four defensemen: Girardi, Del Zotto, Ryan McDonagh and Steve Eminger. Jeff Woywitka spent much of the time on the bench. "I was kind of going out there every other shift," said Girardi, who logged 30:50. Del Zotto played 27:26.

After Richards' crucial goal, on which Andre Deveaux was awarded his first assist as a Ranger, the Rangers clamped down in the third period.

Sean Avery, who cleared re-entry waivers earlier in the week after playing two games in the AHL and was a healthy scratch Thursday, played only seven shifts and had only 4:46 of ice time in his season debut. The reason? All of the power plays.

But the Rangers managed only the one man-advantage goal in nine opportunities, making Richards' wrister even more essential.