Stars hang on to beat Rangers in high-scoring affair
NEW YORK -- Patrick Sharp scored twice as the Dallas Stars survived a wild one to defeat the New York Rangers 7-6 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
The Stars held leads of 4-1 and 7-3 before having to hold on for dear life in the third period, as the Rangers scored three goals in the first 7:26 to turn a blowout into a dramatic finish.
Patrick Eaves, Jamie Benn, Cody Eakin, Adam Cracknell and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Stars. Starting goaltender Antti Niemi made 22 saves to earn the win, although he was replaced by Kari Lehtonen after the Rangers' sixth goal. Lehtonen stopped 11 shots, including three in the final seconds.
Derek Stepan and Mika Zibanejad scored twice each for the Rangers with Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich scoring the other two goals. Henrik Lundqvist allowed seven goals on 27 shots and gave way to Magnus Hellberg, who made four saves, to start the third period.
It took just 27 seconds for Stepan to put the Rangers on the scoreboard. The Stars had a miscommunication around the net, allowing Stepan to tuck home a wraparound goal.
The Stars responded with three straight goals, however.
Eaves scored his 16th of the season on a power play to tie the game at 1. He reached for a rebound after Benn's shot was deflected near the crease and tapped it past Lundqvist at 12:34. The goal came less than a minute after an apparent tally by Rangers defenseman Nick Holden was waived off as teammate Chris Kreider was called for goaltender interference against Niemi.
Sharp scored 12 seconds later to make it 2-1 after a Holden turnover led to an odd-man chance. Radek Faksa hit a cutting Sharp near the net for his third goal of the season.
Another defensive lapse led to Benn's breakaway goal that increased the lead to 3-1 at 17:54. Benn appeared to run out of room as he tried to control a bouncing puck, but he was able to tuck a backhand shot between Lundqvist's pads for his 11th goal of the season.
The Stars scored four more goals in the second period and took a 7-3 lead to the intermission.
The Rangers made a push, however, as Zibanejad and Buchnevich cut the lead to 4-3 after Roussel put the Stars ahead 4-1 at 4:32. But the Stars answered forcefully, as Sharp, Eakin and Cracknell scored less than five minutes apart to close the period.
NOTES: The Stars scratched LW Curtis McKenzie, D Jordie Benn and RW Brett Ritchie. ... Dallas RW Adam Cracknell returned to the lineup after a two-game absence. ... Rangers C Mika Zibanejad (broken leg) returned from a two-month absence. He missed 25 games. ... New York D Marc Staal missed his fifth straight game with a concussion. ... Rangers LW Matt Puempel missed his sixth straight game with a concussion. ... Rangers G Magnus Hellberg served as the backup with Antti Raanta (lower body) out 7-10 days.