Sean Avery Scores to Lead New York Rangers Over Nashville Predators

Led by Sean Avery with his first goal since rejoining the NHL last week, the New York Rangers won 4-2 over the Nashville Predators. Henrik Lundqvist made NHL history by getting his 30th win for the fourth year in a row from the start of his career.

The historic victory puts the Rangers back into the playoff picture after falling out, briefly, when they lost a game to the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins leapfrogged over them.

The Rangers are now tied with the Hurricanes with 77 points, just one point behind the Penguins, with a record of 35-25-8.

It was the Predators third loss in a row and they are now out of the playoffs. It was their only loss of the season so far after leading at the end of the first period. The Rangers have now won four of their last five games in their Cinderella stretch run.

Scott Gomez had a goal and two assists, Ryan Callahan had a pair of assists, and Lundqvist played a strong game for the win. Callahan and Avery were the top two forwards for the Rangers, creating chances in front of the net in all three periods.

Avery added a lot of energy to the game and was a scoring threat all night, despite being targeted by the Predators for hit after hit. He was involved in all but one of the Rangers goals.

Avery got the first goal of the game and his first goal as a Ranger this season three and a half minutes into the game. Gomez and Nik Zherdev both got assists on Avery's goal.

Avery was the trailer on the play and picked up the puck on a rebound after a shot by Gomez. Rangers coach John Tortorella has given Avery more ice time each game and promoted him from the third line to the first for the game against the Predators.

Avery replaced Markus Naslund to play with Gomez and Zherdev on the Rangers first line. Avery played with Gomez last season.

Callahan replaced Zherdev during the game. The Avery line, with Gomez and Callahan, got lots of shots and several excellent scoring chances against the Predators.

Shane Webber tied it up with a powerplay goal several minutes later. The Predators got a lucky bounce when the puck went in the net off the skate of Dan Girardi. J.P. Dumont got credit for the goal.

The Predators had Scott Nichols back in their lineup after suffering a concussion and he lost no time lining up Avery for a big hit.

At the start of the second period Avery's line scored again. Avery hustled down the ice to prevent an icing call shortly after getting flattened by Scott Nichols, and got the puck in front of the net. It went in off a skate and both Callahan and Gomez were credited with the goal.

That play took the momentum away from the Predators and took the crowd out of the game.

Dan Hamhuis flattened Avery in front of the Predators net in the second period. Avery ran into Predators goalie Dan Ellis and was swarmed by Predators players. Nashville was called for just two penalties, to Jordin Tootoo and Vernon Fiddler for high-sticking and tripping. Zherdev and Naslund were called for slashing and interference.

The Rangers also got called for having too many men on the ice.

Avery was credited with a second goal, to put the Rangers ahead 3-2, when the puck was jammed past Ellis through a pile-up, but game officials later gave it to Marc Staal.

Nashville outshot New York 9-6 in the first period but it was the Rangers outshooting the Predators 12-4 in the second. Avery had three shots and had two shots blocked. He was credited with just one hit.

In the third, Greg Zanon got called for high-sticking, trying to hit Avery, after Vernon Fiddler got called for tripping. Avery fell on the goalie in a scramble during the powerplay. On the next play, Fredrik Sjostrom got a short handed goal for the Rangers, with Brandon Dubinsky off for high-sticking.

Nik Antropov hit the post after the Rangers 4th goal.

The Rangers are now 34-25-8. They have three wins and one loss with Avery in the line up. The have four wins and three losses since Tortorella took over behind the bench.

Following the Rangers 3-0 loss to Carolina that ended a three-game winning streak, Tortorella moved left wing Sean Avery to the first line with Scott Gomez and Nikolai Zherdev. Markus Naslund took Avery’s slot on the third line with Lauri Korpikoski and Ryan Callahan.

The Predators played without KHL Star Alexander Radulov, who was rumoured to be rejoining the team after his team got knocked out of the playoffs in Russia by Jaromir Jagr's team, the Avangard Omsk.

The Rangers were fourth in the Atlantic Division standings with a record of 34-25-8, and ninth in the Eastern Conference with 76 points. The Predators, 33-29-5, were eighth in the Western Conference standings with 71 points, and have won six of their last eight games.

The Rangers ended a serious mid-season slump after hiring coach John Tortorella, getting Avery from the Dallas Stars, trading for Nik Antropov and Derek Morris, and getting a new game plan focussing on aggressive attack. They have registered a point in five of their last seven games (3-2-2).

The Predators were looking to avoid a third consecutive loss after falling 2-1 in overtime to Washington on Tuesday, their second straight defeat since a season-high six-game winning streak. The Predators dressed seven defencemen, including Scott Nichols, expecting a physical game.

Lundqvist has 30 wins this season, despite playing for a team called everything from underachievers to comatose. He kept the Rangers in the game during a mid-season slump in which the Rangers stopped scoring.

Lundqvist is only the second Rangers goaltender to win 30 games in any four consecutive seasons. Hall of Famer Ed Giacomin did it between 1966 and 1970.

Following tonight's contest, the Rangers will travel to Philadelphia to face-off against the Flyers on Saturday, March 14 at the Wachovia Center (1:00 p.m.), in the first game of a home-and-home set.

The Rangers-Flyers match is the NHL Game of the Week on Sunday. The network is promoting this coming Sunday's game as, "Sean Avery and the Rangers against the Flyers."

Last Sunday's Rangers-Bruins game featuring Sean Avery's first appearance at Madison Square Garden got better national ratings on NBC than the matchup between Alexander Ovechkin's Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins last month.