NHL ROUNDUP | Sunday’s games
Coyotes 5, Rangers 1
NEW YORK — Even with the flu, Wayne Gretzky had to enjoy this return to Madison Square Garden. Back in the building where he played the final game of his Hall of Fame career eight years earlier, Gretzky stood behind the Phoenix Coyotes bench for the first time in New York and coached his club to a rout of the New York Rangers on Sunday night. Joel Perrault scored twice and added an assist in just his second game of the season, and Ilya Bryzgalov rode a strong start after a rare day off and made 34 saves. The Coyotes earned their second win in two days and third on a six-game road trip that has two stops left. The Coyotes entered with the fewest goals scored in the Western Conference and took on the Rangers, who had allowed a league-low 70. Neither trend held true. Daniel Carcillo, Radim Vrbata, Fredrik Sjostrom and Perrault all scored in the second period when the Coyotes blew the game open with four goals on 11 shots. Phoenix hit the four-goal mark for the fourth time in six games. Not bad for the Coyotes’ first visit to the Garden since Oct. 28, 2002. The Rangers had been 9-1 against the franchise, formally the Winnipeg Jets, dating to a win on Jan. 6, 1992. Gretzky retired as a member of the Rangers on April 18, 1999, after his third season with New York.
Devils 4, Flyers 2
NEWARK, N.J. — John Madden scored two goals and Martin Brodeur made 29 saves, including a game-turning penalty shot stop, to lead the Devils. Aaron Asham and Jamie Langenbrunner also scored for the Devils, who have won 10 straight from the Flyers in New Jersey. Philadelphia last won in New Jersey on March 9, 2004. Mike Richards and Daniel Briere scored for the Flyers, who have lost three straight for the first time this season. The momentum swung in the Devils’ favor midway through the second period when Brodeur stopped Briere on a penalty shot. The score tied at 1, Briere broke into the Devils’ zone and was hooked by Vitaly Vishnevski. Briere was awarded a penalty shot at 9:32 but Brodeur won the duel with a stick stop, energizing New Jersey. Only 40 seconds later, Madden got his second of the game, completing a 2-on-1 short-handed rush with Langenbrunner. Asham poked in a shot from the slot at 13:57 to put the Devils ahead 3-1. New Jersey almost had another score late in the period when Brian Gionta beat Antero Niittymaki, but the goal was waved off as Devils forward Dainius Zubrus was whistled for holding. The teams exchanged power-play goals earlier in the second. Richards gave the Flyers the lead 40 seconds in before Madden countered at 2:49. In the third, Briere put the Flyers back in the game with a power-play goal at 6:44 that cut the Devils’ lead to 3-2. Langenbrunner sealed the win with an empty net tally with 5 seconds remaining. The Devils outshot the Flyers 14-8 in the scoreless first period. Philadelphia had one of the best chances in the closing seconds when Briere’s power-play slapper from the blueline almost trickled past Brodeur.
Associated Press