nhl roundup Monday’s games

Rangers 4, Blue Jackets 3, OT

NEW YORK

Derek Stepan came through late, not once but twice, in the New York Rangers’ rally past Columbus. Stepan scored with 28 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, then got the winner late in the extra period. With their fourth straight win, the Rangers improved to 51-21-7 for a league-best 109 points. With three games remaining, the Rangers are two points ahead of Anaheim for the Presidents’ Trophy. New York has four more (46-42) regulation and overtime wins, a tiebreaker. Columbus, the NHL’s hottest team, had won nine in a row, but won’t make the playoffs. Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves and has won all four of those games in the streak. Martin St. Louis and Dan Girardi also scored for New York. Matt Calvert, Marko Dano and Brandon Dubinsky scored for Columbus, which outplayed New York for much of the second half of the game. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 38 shots. With Lundqvist pulled for an extra skater, Stepan whipped Chris Kreider’s feed past Bobrovsky as Madison Square Garden crowd erupted. Stepan ended a wild overtime with a forehand shot with 49.6 seconds to go as the fans again celebrated.

That was in stark contrast to the quiet inside the building after former Ranger Dubinsky snapped Nick Foligno’s feed past Lundqvist midway in the third period for the Blue Jackets’ only lead.

Sabres 4, Hurricanes 3

BUFFALO, N.Y.

Tyler Ennis scored his 20th goal and the Sabres avoided clinching a last-place overall finish. Mikhail Grigorenko, Brian Gionta and Johan Larsson also scored for Buffalo, which entered the game a regulation loss away from guaranteeing the best odds at the first pick in June’s NHL draft. Anders Lindback made 49 saves. Alexander Semin, Eric Staal and Patrick Dwyer scored for Carolina, which nearly erased a four-goal deficit in the defeat. Carolina out shot Buffalo in every period en route to a 52-25 advantage for the game.

Jets 2, Wild 0

ST. PAUL, MINN.

Blake Wheeler and Drew Stafford scored, Ondrej Pavelec made 32 saves and Winnipeg gave its playoff push a big boost, preventing the Wild from clinching a wild-card spot. The Wild stayed stuck on 96 points after their first loss by more than one goal in 34 games since Jan. 19. The Jets reached 94 points.

Associated Press