GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Henrik Lundqvist had gotten his team to the shootout, but the veteran goalie needed a moment to collect his thoughts as he stared down longtime former teammate Derek Stepan with the game and an additional point on the line.

Lundqvist got the job done one final time, stopping Stepan on the final attempt of the shootout.

Lundqvist stopped 37 shots through overtime and all three he faced in the tiebreaker, Mika Zibanejad scored in the shootout and the New York Rangers beat the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night.

Lundqvist's save on Stepan, a teammate for seven seasons until he was traded to Arizona last June, sealed New York's third win in five games, and seventh point in the last four.

''The best thing is for me is to be in the moment and not think about what he's going to do. ... It's a mind game almost when you face Derek there at the end,'' Lundqvist said. ''I don't want to start overthinking it. But it was fun.''

Stepan smiled a little when reliving the moment with his ex-teammate.

''He's the king for a reason. He backbones that team really nicely and he was excellent,'' Stepan said. ''I thought it was actually going to squeak by him but somehow he got a pad on it.''

Brady Skjei took a slashing penalty on Arizona's Clayton Keller at 1:29 of overtime, setting up a Coyotes power play. However, Arizona couldn't take advantage.

Jimmy Vesey scored the tying goal in the second period for the Rangers, who are 6-2-2 in their last 10 and went to overtime for the fifth time in seven games.

Anthony Duclair scored midway through the first for his second goal in two games for the Coyotes, who have earned at least a point in four of seven games. Antti Raanta, who came over in the trade with Stepan, finished with 24 saves in his first time facing his former team.

''When I got a couple of saves and got into the rhythm, it was awesome playing against (Lundqvist),'' Raanta said.

Duclair did just about everything he could to set up his goal. A nudge he delivered to the Rangers' Kevin Shattenkirk led to a penalty on the defenseman for delay of game when he dislodged the goal from its mooring.

Duclair scored seven seconds later at 10:50 of the first. Duclair helped teammate Christian Dvorak dig out the puck on a faceoff, then was in position on the flank as Dvorak delivered a backhand pass to Stepan for a shot. Stepan's try came out to Duclair, who put the puck away for Arizona's fifth power-play goal in four games.

''Could be our best period of the year,'' Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. ''We should have had three or four goals.''

Vesey tied it at 5:11 of the second as he stole the puck from the Coyotes' Oliver Ekman-Larsson and put a shot past Raanta from the side for his ninth of the season.

''He was a force. He carried the puck with speed. He's tough to stop when he's got a lot of momentum like that,'' the Rangers' J.T. Miller said of Vesey. ''`Hank' (Lundqvist) gave us every chance to win so we found a way to get it done, I guess.''

LAS VEGAS (AP) The first time they met, the New York Rangers were introduced to an expansion Vegas Golden Knights team that was riddled with goaltender injuries and just 10 games into the season.

That was on Oct. 31, when New York erased rallied from two goals down to beat fourth-string goalie Max Lagace in a 6-4 victory. On Sunday night, the Rangers met a matured Golden Knights team that was looking to get even.

William Karlsson scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period to lift Vegas to a 2-1 victory over New York in front of a season-high 18,234 in attendance.

''At the beginning (of the season) we were having some collapses in the third, and that's not happening anymore,'' Karlsson said. ''I think we're a better team than we were at the start. I think we're more complete. We have a solid four lines and our D pairs are great. Obviously, the goaltending has been awesome, too. We're just a more complete team now.''

James Neal also scored his 18th goal of the season, while Marc-Andre Fleurystopped 28 shots to improve to 9-2-1.

Now at the halfway point of their inaugural campaign, the Golden Knights own the top home record in the league, moving to 18-2-1 in the first 21 contests at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas is 9-0-1 in its last 10 at home, including seven straight wins.

''We're beating good hockey teams and we're playing good hockey,'' Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. ''Tonight, we played a real good Ranger team. ... We stayed patient, we found a way to score late in the hockey game and win a big game.''

Behind excellent puck movement on the game-winner, defenseman Deryk Engelland found Jonathan Marchessault with a blueline-to-blueline pass. Marchessault then pushed the puck forward to Reilly Smith, who found Karlsson at the right dot for a one-timer for his team-high 22nd of the season.

''Obviously I have Marchessault and Smith on my wings, so with them it's been really great,'' Karlsson said. ''I have to thank them a lot. They've been great, and it's so easy to play with them.''

Fleury turned in another spectacular performance, allowing two or fewer goals for the fifth consecutive time, while coming up with several big saves down the stretch.

''Our defensive players have been great, blocking shots and helping me out with rebounds and letting me see the puck. It's a good team effort,'' Fleury said. ''Those are the kinds of games we're going to see later on in the season toward the end. We're finding ways to win those games. It's important, it's good for the confidence and it's good to know we can do that.''

Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers and Ondrej Pavelec, making his 10th appearance of the season, finished with 32 saves.

''It's tough. We lost a game we wanted to win before the break, but we battled hard,'' Pavelec said. ''I think we played a good third period and had some chances. But you can't be happy because we lost ... and that's all that matters.''

Since the start of last season, New York is 14-7-0 in the second game of a back-to-back set. The Rangers, who lead the NHL in road wins since the start of last season with 34, were coming off a shootout victory at Arizona on Saturday night, when Henrik Lundqvist stopped 38 of 39 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and all three attempts in the shootout.

New York got on the board first when Zibanejad got his 13th of the season with a wrist shot that beat Fleury on the glove side.

NEW YORK (AP) Mathew Barzal was terrific and Jaroslav Halak stepped up at a couple of key moments.

It was the Islanders' day again in New York.

Barzal had two goals and three assists, Beauvillier added two goals and an assist, and the Islanders beat the Rangers 7-2 on Saturday for their ninth win in the last 10 meetings of the crosstown rivals.

Shane Prince, Thomas Hickey and Cal Clutterbuck also scored, helping the Islanders to the victory in both teams' first game after their respective five-day byes. Jordan Eberle had four assists in the Isles' highest scoring game of the season, and Halak stopped 37 shots.

''Just one of those nights where everything kind of finds its way into the back of the net,'' said Barzal, who leads NHL rookies with 29 assists and 44 points. ''It was a great team effort honestly.''

The Islanders won their second straight after a season-high six-game losing streak, and coach Doug Weight credited Halak's play, especially early in the third period when the Rangers picked up their intensity.

''When they were blitzing us ... he came up with big save after big save in a four- to five-minute span and kind of defeated them a little bit,'' Weight said. ''Those are the flurries, those are the saves he was absolutely in charge of his game.''

Kevin Hayes and Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers, who have lost three of four. Ondrej Pavelec was pulled in the second period after giving up five goals on 19 shots, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 16 saves.

PITTSBURGH (AP) Dominik Simon admits he got a little wide-eyed as he closed in on his first NHL goal.

The only thing left for the Pittsburgh Penguins' rookie forward was to put the puck in a half-empty net.

Simon did just that as he and Phil Kessel scored milestone goals to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 victory against the New York Rangers on Sunday night. Kessel's 20th of the season was his 700th point that put the Penguins ahead for good.

''It feels unbelievable to score the first one,'' said Simon, who said he's keeping the milestone puck for himself. ''It's even better with the win.''

Sidney Crosby, Patric Hornqvist and Carl Hagelin also scored as the Penguins got their season high-tying fourth straight win and fifth in six games. Rookie Tristan Jarry, making his fourth straight start, stopped 26 shots to pick up his career-best fourth straight win.

Jarry was happy for Simon, as the two have spent time together with the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

''I think me and Dom have been together for awhile now,'' Jarry said. ''It's good to finally see.''

Michael Grabner and Brendan Smith scored for the Rangers, who were coming off a 7-2 loss at home to the Islanders the previous day. New York has lost four of five and seven of its last 10 (3-5-2). Henrik Lundqvist had 42 saves.

NEW YORK (AP) Henrik Lundqvist and Brady Skjei sat inside the Rangers' dressing room after shellacking the Flyers, and surprisingly enough, their conversation was all about defense.

Even after Rick Nash scored twice in New York's 5-1 win over Philadelphia, the Rangers were most pleased by what happened in their own end.

''We both said that was our best collective defensive game in a long time, and we end up scoring five goals,'' Skjei said.

Jordan Weal put Philadelphia up 1-0 before Nash, J.T. Miller, Paul Carey and Michael Grabner combined to make it 5-1 by the end of the second period. Nash had the first and last goal for the Rangers.

''That's a testament to us playing good structurally,'' Skjei said. ''Good team defense first leads to good looks offensively. It was a good game all around.''

New York snapped a three-game skid and improved to 23-17-5. Lundqvist made 25 saves for his 20th win of the season and 425th career victory. Lundqvist became the first goaltender in league history to win at least 20 games in each of his first 13 seasons.

Philadelphia dropped to 20-16-8 with its first loss in four games. Brian Elliottgave up five goals on 21 shots before being replaced by Michal Neuvirth in the third period. Neuvirth stopped eight shots.

''We weren't competitive enough,'' Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said.

Entering their first meeting of the season, New York and Philadelphia were on significantly different trajectories. The Flyers had won four straight by an aggregate 21-11 margin, while the Rangers had scored two or fewer goals in eight of their last 10 games.

Coupled with the Islanders' 4-1 loss to New Jersey, the Rangers passed Pittsburgh and the Islanders for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers have a game in hand on the Islanders. Pittsburgh, which was off, now holds the second wild card.

NEW YORK (AP) The Rangers have been waiting all season for Rick Nash to score in bunches. A fresh line combination may be doing the trick.

Nash scored twice for the second straight game and new linemate Pavel Buchnevich scored the winner late in the third period as the Rangers edged the conference-worst Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Thursday night.

Buchnevich scored the go-ahead goal at 16:02 after the Sabres had tied the game for the third time on a power-play goal by defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen at 14:59 of the third. Nash, who opened the scoring early in the first and put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 6:49 of the third, has 13 goals this season. He also scored twice in a 5-1 win over Philadelphia on Tuesday.

''Sometimes you get five or six opportunities a night and don't score. Other times, you get two chances and put them both in,'' Nash said. ''You've got to stay level-headed and stay with it.''

Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for the Rangers, who won their second straight after three consecutive losses.

''In the end, we had some guys playing big minutes come up with big goals,'' said Lundqvist, referring to the new combination of Nash with Buchnevich and center Mika Zibanejad. ''They move the puck really well and their timing is there right now.''

Buchnevich's goal was his 12th of the season. He also had assists on both goals by Nash.

''It's important if your line scores,'' the soft-spoken Buchnevich said. ''You feel better.''

The Rangers (24-17-5) have won 11 of their last 14 games against Buffalo, which fell to an Eastern Conference-worst 11-25-9. The Rangers currently hold one of two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Sabres continue to struggle with only one win in seven games this month.

DENVER (AP) The Colorado Avalanche have gone from pushover to powerhouse in less than a season, and their recent streak is evoking memories of past glory.

Nathan MacKinnon, Erik Johnson and Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist each, Jonathan Bernier made 27 saves and the streaking Avalanche beat the New York Rangers 3-1 on Saturday for their ninth straight win.

The Avalanche have won eight straight at home and haven't lost since Arizona beat them on Dec. 27. Colorado has outscored opponents 37-15 in the last nine games and has not trailed during the winning streak, which has moved the team into playoff position in the Western Conference.

''We can't get comfortable,'' MacKinnon said. ''That is why we are fighting every night because we need these points. It's so tight, the division is so tight.''

Colorado has won nine in a row for the first time since Oct. 10-28, 2000, the last season it won the Stanley Cup. That was during a run of success that brought the Avalanche two championships and six conference finals in seven seasons.

All of their nine wins have come against teams in playoff position.

''They're feeling it right now, there's no question,'' Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. ''Their top guys are playing really well and make a difference for them.''

Pavel Buchnevich scored and Lundqvist stopped 34 shots for New York. The Rangers were missing five players who would normally be in the lineup.

''It's part of being a pro. You've got to deal with stuff like that,'' forward J.T. Miller said. ''Unfortunately it happens, but we have some good players we can rely on to step in and play well.''

Colorado took a 2-0 lead with goals by Johnson in the first period and MacKinnon early in the second. MacKinnon used Rangers defenseman Steven Kampfer as a screen to beat Lundqvist.

LOS ANGELES (AP) Goals and power plays were in short supply for the Los Angeles Kings during their longest losing streak of the season. Three scores on three chances with the man-advantage in the second period against the New York Rangers were enough to get them back on track.

Tanner Pearson, Michael Amadio and Jake Muzzin each scored on the power play, and the Kings snapped their six-game skid with a 4-2 win over the Rangers on Sunday night.

''I think the second period was arguably our best period this year. We just got to play more like that,'' Kings captain Anze Kopitar said.

Jonathan Quick made 21 saves while ending his personal five-game losing skid. Trevor Lewis added an empty-net goal with 17.8 seconds remaining.

David Desharnais had a power-play goal and Jimmy Vesey also scored for the Rangers, who have dropped four straight on the road. Henrik Lundqvistmade 26 saves.

Trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Kings got back in it by scoring three power-play goals in the second against the fourth-best penalty kill in the league.

Los Angeles cut the deficit to 2-1 on Muzzin's goal 30 seconds into the period. Brendan Smith had been called for a roughing penalty after the first period ended, leading to a fight with an unlikely pugilist in forward Adrian Kempe and putting the Kings on special teams to start the second.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) The Anaheim Ducks weren't ecstatic with they way they played, but it was good enough to get a win.

Andrew Cogliano and Adam Henrique capped Anaheim's four-goal first period and the Ducks went on to a 6-3 victory over the struggling New YorkRangers on Tuesday night.

Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist, Corey Perry added a goal and an assist, and Rickard Rakell and J.T. Brown also scored to help Anaheim win for the fourth time in six games. John Gibson stopped 41 shots.

''Well, we won, that's the main thing. I thought we worked pretty hard,'' Getzlaf said. ''It wasn't a picture-perfect game by any means, but we scored goals, timely goals, and that kind of changed the momentum.''

Rick Nash had two goals, and Michael Grabner also scored for the Rangers, losers of six of their last eight. New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist was pulled after giving up three goals on seven shots over the first 16:21, after Cogliano scored the tiebreaking goal.

''It was just a bad start and then I just didn't have it,'' Lundqvist said after his shortest outing of the season. ''I was too slow. I have to be better. I thought we played pretty good. We gave up some chances there but it's my job to stop them and for whatever reason I was too slow to react and I have to be more on my toes,

''It happens sometimes, there's been a lot of games here but there's no excuse. I have to be more on my toes there and help the team there to make those saves.''

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) After three straight losses to open their road trip, the New York Rangers head into the All-Star break on a high note thanks to an unlikely goal scorer.

Ryan McDonagh scored his first two goals of the season and J.T. Miller added a goal and two assists that helped the New York Rangers salvage the final game of a four-game road trip by beating the San Jose Sharks 6-5 on Thursday night.

''The team needed that,'' Miller said. ''We've done a lot of good things over the road trip but the win category hasn't been where we wanted. That's a good way to cap it off and make it feel good going into the break.''

New York had been outscored 13-6 in losing the first three games of the trip with Miller getting benched for the final two periods in Anaheim on Tuesday night because of careless turnovers.

But the Rangers overcame a deficit in the second period with two goals from McDonagh and a short-handed tally from Brady Skjei. Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast also scored for New York, and Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves.

''I really believe that on this road trip we played better than our record indicates,'' coach Alain Vigneault said. ''We're 1-3 but in all four games we had good starts. Somehow the second periods might have been a little bit more challenging, but tonight we found a way to get a real strong second. They came at us hard in the third but we were able to do what we needed to do.''

NEW YORK (AP) Curtis McElhinney is getting more comfortable as his career progresses, and it's been showing on the ice.

The veteran backup stopped 25 shots for his second shutout of the season and seventh of his career as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 4-0 on Thursday night.

''I just feel like I'm getting better and better,'' said the 34-year-old McElhinney, who is in his second season with Toronto after spending the previous four with Columbus. ''I feel certainly more comfortable about my game than where I did five years ago.''

McElhinney is now 5-4-0 in nine starts this season and lowered his goals-against average to 2.25 - the lowest of his career in a season while making more than one start.

James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Marleau, Zach Hyman and Justin Holl scored for the Maple Leafs in their second straight shutout and fourth straight win. Toronto also completed a sweep of the three-game season series with the Rangers.

It came one night after Frederik Andersen had 25 saves in a 5-0 win at home against the Islanders, giving Toronto back-to-back shutouts for the second time this season. The Maple Leafs extended their shutout streak to 142 minutes, 17 seconds since Dallas' Tyler Seguin scored late in the second period of Toronto's 4-1 win last Thursday.

''We did a great job in front of the net,'' McElhinney said. ''The biggest takeaway from the game tonight and even the last one was smart decisions with the puck at the blue line.''

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock likes how his team has played lately, improving to 7-2-3 in their last 12 and sitting three points behind second-place Boston in the Atlantic Division.

''We think we're getting better,'' he said. ''We think we have a chance to be quite a bit better so we're just a work in progress. ... We're deeper than we've been, we have four lines.''

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was pulled early in the second period after giving up four goals on 13 shots. Ondrej Pavelec came on and stopped all 19 shots he faced. New York, shut out for just the second time this season, has lost eight of its last 12.

The Rangers were playing for the first time since winning at San Jose last Thursday in their last game before the All-Star break, but coach Alain Vigneault didn't want to use the layoff as an excuse.

''We had two really good practices prior to this, so we should have been better than this,'' he said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Once Nashville got going, the struggling New York Rangers tried to stay close. However, the Predators just pulled away.

The Predators scored twice in the second period and three times in the third to beat the Rangers 5-2 Saturday night.

New York narrowed the deficit to one twice in the final two periods, but Nashville retaliated quickly both times.

''Really big to answer like that,'' Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. ''I don't like the fact that we took three penalties in the third period. Right away, we had to play in the defensive zone and (they) were taking shots.''

Nashville's Kevin Fiala scored twice and Pekka Rinne made 20 saves. P.K. Subban, Colton Sissons and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Predators, who improved to 8-1-1 in the last 10 games.

''We played fast and we played with energy and played a pretty smart game when we weren't turning over a lot of pucks,'' Sissons said.

Rinne has allowed only two goals in his last three games, including shutouts in his previous two outings. He extended the Predators' second-longest shutout streak in franchise history to 171:47 before finally allowing a goal early in the third period

J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanjejad scored for New York, which had just eight shots on goal through two periods, and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 22 saves. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games.

Rangers announce Vesey out with concussion, Staal out with cervical strain. Shattenkirk, Kreider, Buchnevich are already out injured.

New York Rangers Request Rick Nash’s No Trade List.

DALLAS (AP) Martin Hanzal was happy to be back and the Dallas Stars were glad to have him on the ice.

The veteran center returned from injured reserve and scored the game-winning goal as the Stars beat the slumping New York Rangers 2-1 on Monday night.

On the power play, Hanzal skated across the goalmouth and tipped in Julius Honka's shot from the right point to break a 1-all tie 4:05 into the third period. Hanzal has missed 20 games this season, including the previous five because of a strained muscle in his lower body.

''I felt OK,'' he said. ''It's hard to get in game tempo. It took me a couple shifts but after that I felt pretty good.''

Tyler Seguin tied the game with a second-period goal for Dallas. He said the 6-foot-5 Hanzal gives the team a different dimension.

''He's huge. The goalie can't see anything, and he tips the puck and he gets a lot of goals that way.''

The Stars' third straight win moved them within one point of St. Louis for third place in the Central Division. The Rangers, who have lost six of seven, are last in the rugged Metropolitan Division and three points out of a postseason spot in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race.

''Unfortunately on their winning goal, we should have had a blocked shot by our defenseman,'' Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said, ''but it seemed just to go by him. I think it was going wide, and their guy was able to tip it. We weren't able to get some like that.''

Dallas outshot New York 41-32. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist lost his fifth game in a row despite making 39 saves.

''Just the first 10-15 minutes,'' Lundqvist said. ''After that, we got going. But it took us some time, to be honest, to escape the first period with the lead.''

Ben Bishop had 31 saves for Dallas.

In the first 20 minutes, the Stars tied their season high for shots in a period with 21 - but New York's David Desharnais scored the only goal at 17:55. Bishop stopped a snap shot from Desharnais, but he continued skating and put the rebound in the net.

Lundqvist stopped Dallas' first 31 shots before Seguin scored at 14:44 of the second. Jason Spezza's pass from low in the right faceoff circle deflected off the stick of Rangers forward Jesper Fast to Seguin at the top of the left circle. His slap shot went in off the left post.

The winning goal wasn't Hanzal's only contribution. He played on a penalty-kill unit that stopped all three Rangers power plays and won eight of 11 faceoffs.

''Hanzal just manages the game so well,'' Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. ''We've missed his presence. He's a real good pro, and I guess we're hoping that he stays healthy. He came through the game fine and that's a good sign. A healthy Martin Hanzal makes us very difficult to play against.''