Zuccarello, Lundqvist power Rangers past Kings
NEW YORK -- Mats Zuccarello scored a back-breaking goal early in the third period to help the New York Rangers to their third straight victory, a 3-2 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Kings goaltender Jeff Zatkoff gave the puck away behind his net to the Rangers' J.T. Miller. Zuccarello took a pass from Miller and beat Zatkoff with a high shot to give New York a 3-1 lead.
The Kings have lost four straight games, all in regulation.
Brandon Pirri and Matt Puempel also scored for the Rangers, who received a third consecutive strong start from goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Since allowing seven goals on 27 shots to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, Lundqvist has stopped 80 of 84 shots, including 36 against the Kings.
Jordan Nolan scored the Kings as did Kyle Clifford with 1.6 seconds remaining to cap the scoring. Zatkoff made 14 saves.
The Rangers had nine shots, including two that were soft dump-ins, through two periods, but it was enough for two goals.
Pirri got the Rangers on the board in the first period at 11:31. The Kings were ahead on shots 11-1 when Los Angeles' Nick Shore turned the puck over in front of his own net, which led to Pirri firing a quick wrist shot that beat Zatkoff to the stick side.
The goal, which was unassisted, was Pirri's eighth of the season.
Puempel converted a two-on-one chance with Derek Stepan to push the lead to 2-0 at 13:28 of the second period. Defenseman Dan Girardi started the attack by springing Stepan, who hit Puempel on the left wing for his sixth goal in 14 games with the Rangers.
Lundqvist made flurry of difficult saves late in the second period, only to have Nolan beat him with a long slap shot from along the left-wing boards at 18:01. The shot from outside the faceoff circle slipped just under the crossbar on Lundqvist's glove side to cut the lead to 2-1.
NOTES: Kings D Matt Greene, who has played once since Jan. 7, is shut down because of lingering back issues, coach Darryl Sutter said. ... Los Angeles scratched D Tom Gilbert and C Nic Dowd. ... Rangers C Kevin Hayes will miss two to three weeks with a lower-body injury he sustained during a game against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. ... New York RW Jesper Fast (upper body) missed his third consecutive game, and G Antti Raanta (lower body) missed his fourth straight game. ... Rangers D Marc Staal, out since Jan. 3 with a concussion, could return soon but won't play Wednesday, coach Alain Vigneault said.