Lightning/NHL

Jagr gets 41, 42 as Rangers roll

PHILADELPHIA - Jaromir Jagr scored his NHL-leading 41st and 42nd goals and also had an assist to lead the New York Rangers to their seventh straight victory, 6-1 over the Flyers on Thursday night.

The Atlantic Division-leading Rangers have a four-point lead over the second-place Flyers. Kevin Weekes made 36 saves for New York, which last won seven straight early in the 1993-94 season en route to its last Stanley Cup title. The Rangers are first in their division this late in the season for the first time since 1995-96.

"We're fighting for first place in our division, so it's huge," Jagr said.

The Rangers, 3-0-2 against Philadelphia this season, didn't need a lot of shots to beat the Flyers. They scored three goals - two on the power play - in a 1:58 span early in the second period and had four goals in a 6:46 span.

Jagr, the NHL leader with 91 points, scored two power-play goals to open the second period and give the Rangers a 3-0 lead. Jagr's second goal gave him 1,400 career points.

The goal also knocked out the Flyers' Robert Esche, who allowed three goals on only eight shots. Coach Ken Hitchcock put in rookie Antero Niittymaki, the tournament MVP of the Olympics after he led Finland to the silver medal.

CANADIENS 1, PANTHERS 0: Alexei Kovalev scored with 5:49 left in the third period and Cristobal Huet made 24 saves for his third shutout of the season for visiting Montreal. Montreal native Roberto Luongo stopped 26 shots for the Panthers. Montreal won the season series 3-1, with all four games decided by one goal. The Canadiens travel to Tampa Bay to play the Lightning on Saturday.

SENATORS 7, CAPITALS 1: Rookie defenseman Andrej Meszaros had three assists, Ray Emery made 30 saves and host Ottawa scored five special-teams goals. Capitals rookie Alex Ovechkin scored his 38th goal with 5:07 remaining in the third to spoil Emery's shutout bid. Ottawa's Wade Redden, Jason Spezza and Brian Pothier scored power-play goals. Antoine Vermette and Peter Schaefer had short-handed goals for the Senators.

BRUINS 3, THRASHERS 2: Marco Sturm scored a power-play goal with 2:41 left. Sturm scored when Brian Leetch's shot from the corner deflected off Sturm's skate and through Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen's legs. Andrew Raycroft made 20 saves for his first win since Jan. 7 and helped the Bruins snap a three-game losing streak. The loss ended Atlanta's franchise-best, three-game road winning streak.

ISLANDERS 3, DEVILS 2 (SO): Trent Hunter smacked a shot between Martin Brodeur's pads in a shootout, denying the Canadian Olympian his 30th victory. Brodeur is trying to become the first player to have 30 wins in 10 straight seasons. He's the only goalie with more than eight in a row. Miroslav Satan, who left Long Island for Buffalo earlier in the day to be with his wife when she gave birth to a boy, also scored against Brodeur in the shootout.

PREDATORS 3, CANUCKS 1: Greg Johnson broke a tie with a short-handed goal 45 seconds into the third period, and Tomas Vokoun made 41 saves for host Nashville. The Predators snapped a six-game winless skid against the Canucks and remained in fourth place in the Western Conference. They have 76 points, three more than Vancouver. Yanic Perreault and Mike Sillinger added goals to help Nashville win for the second time in its past six games.

COYOTES 6, STARS 2: Geoff Sanderson and Shane Doan each scored twice for host Phoenix. Doan added a pair of assists, and Steve Reinprecht and Paul Mara also scored for the Coyotes, who snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 2-4-2 in their last eight. Bill Guerin and Jason Arnott scored for the Stars, who dropped their third straight to remain six points behind the idle Red Wings for the Western Conference lead.

AVS 1, BLUE JACKETS 0: David Aebischer made 24 saves for his third shutout of the season and 13th overall, and Brett Clark scored the lone goal. Aebischer made several spectacular saves to improve to 7-0-0 against the visiting Blue Jackets. He has allowed six goals in seven career starts against Columbus. Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire was nearly as impressive, stopping 39 shots.

FLAMES 3, BLUES 1: Jarome Iginla scored twice for host Calgary. Shean Donovan also had a goal to help the Flames grab first place in the Northwest Division, a point ahead of Colorado. Lee Stempniak scored for St. Louis, which lost in regulation for the first time in seven games.

MAPLE LEAFS: Owen Nolan has ruled out returning to NHL this season because of a right knee injury. Nolan, a 33-year-old unrestricted free agent, last played for Toronto in 2003-04. He had surgery last year.

NHLPA: Former NHL players Vincent Damphousse (director of business relations) and Stu Grimson have joined the NHL Players' Association staff. Grimson will deal with several issues, including grievances, league-player discipline and arbitration.

[Last modified March 3, 2006, 02:15:34]