Henrik Lundqvist made a season-high 41 saves — including a career-best 23 in the first period — to carry the Rangers to a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
Lundqvist turned aside every Stars shot in the first and stopped 35 of 36 through 40 minutes to keep New York in a 1-1 tie.
Chris Kreider and John Moore then scored 37 seconds apart in the first 1:55 of the third period to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.
Alex Chiasson brought Dallas back within a goal by scoring at 8:27 of the third.
Just 12 seconds later, Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped Rick Nash on a penalty shot.
Nash had scored New York's first goal at 6:27 of the first period. It was his first goal this season, in his second game back after missing 17 games because of a concussion.
Dallas tied the game 1-1 on Stephane Robidas' goal at 8:46 of the second.
Sports
It was the Stars' first power play in eight home games this season. They had been unsuccessful in their first 26 opportunities.
The Rangers, who started a five-game road trip, had scored only two goals — both on the power play — in their three previous games when they went 1-2.
Nash's go-ahead goal came on New York's first power play of the night. He skated in, put the puck on his forehand and pushed it in the net to the right of Lehtonen.
Dallas had two first-period power plays, but failed to score even though they put six shots on Lundqvist. The Stars ended the period 0 for 26 on power plays in their eight home games.
The Stars held a 23-6 edge in shots but trailed 1-0.
They broke through with Robidas' third goal. He took a cross-ice pass from Sergei Gonchar at the left point and blasted a slap shot that deflected off a defender and past Lundqvist.
New York had an apparent goal disallowed about 5 minutes later. From a scramble in front, the puck went into the upper right corner of the net. On review, it was determined that Rangers center Derek Brassard had batted the puck across the goal line.
During the period, Lundqvist exceeded his previous season high of 31 saves. Each team had 13 shots, for a two-period total of 36 for Dallas and 19 for New York.
The Rangers came out quickly in the third and recorded the first four shots. On the third drive, Kreider broke the tie. Their next shot was the goal by Moore.
