Rangers Ice Predators
Since arriving in New York, Radek Dvorak hasn't had as much success as his fellow Czech linemates. Now they're all having fun.
Dvorak scored a career-high three goals, the last two on breakaways, as the Rangers beat the Nashville Predators 5-1 on Monday night.
Playing with Petr Nedved and Jan Hlavac since being acquired from Florida in a Dec. 30 trade, Dvorak has 13 points including five goals and eight assists in the last 13 games.
"It's great for this team and this line for him to have confidence scoring," said Nedved, who has two January hat tricks of his own and five goals and seven assists in 10 games.
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"You understand each other and relying on each other and it's nice," Dvorak said.
The Rangers, who outshot the Predators 34-30, had lost two straight following a seven-game winning streak, their longest in six seasons. New York had its first 10-win January since 1973.
"It was nice because we had a great first period," Dvorak said. "We started to play the second period a little bit slow. So the third goal was a big help for us."
New York let a point slip away last Thursday when Toronto got the winning goal in the final minute. Two days later in Ottawa, the Rangers saw a 2-1 lead turn into a 3-2 loss in the last two minutes.
"It feels good because we won the game," Dvorak said. "We took a very important two points."
Mike Richter, the Rangers' lone representative in this weekend's All-Star game made 29 saves, including a penalty-shot stop against Randy Robitaille> in the first period.
"He made a pretty good move," Richter said. "It just worked out well and I was able to get a pad on it."
Richter, who stopped Washington's Richard Zednik on Nov. 11, has been successful on 11 of 12 career penalty shots, nine in the regular season and two in the playoffs.
The New York goalie allowed only Robitaille's 10th goal in the closing seconds of the second period. Richter does not have a shutout this season.
Dvorak gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead just 4:33 in when Nedved, along the right boards, fed him a perfect backhand pass between the circles. Dvorak beat Mike Dunham between the pads.
"It's nice to see him have a big game," Rangers coach John Muckler said of Dvorak.
Just under 10 minutes later, Robitaille was dragged down by defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre and awarded the penalty shot. On the attempt, Robitaille deked to the backhand, but was denied when he tried to slip the puck through Richter's legs.
"That was my first ever penalty shot, I didn't know what to expect," Robitaille said. "I thought he was going to open the five-hole a little bit more than he did, but he didn't."
Rookie Mike York scored his 16th goal, tying him for the team lead, with 2:22 left in the first to make it 2-0.
Alexandre Daigle's fifth goal and first in 20 games gave New York a three-goal lead at 12:01 of the second.
After Robitaille made it 3-1, with a deflection of Craig Millar's point shot with five seconds left in the period, Dvorak put the game away for New York in the third.
Hlavac hit Dvorak with a pass from the New York zone and sent him in alone on Dunham at 7:28. Dvorak made it 5-1 with his 12th goal 7:33 later when Hlavac started another breakaway.
"That guy can fly," Richter said. "I think that surprised a lot of us."
Nashville, which killed off both Rangers power plays, has not allowed a power-play goal in four games and 13 chances. The Rangers, perfect on four chances, have yielded only five goals in their last 53 times short-handed.
Predators forward Robert Valicevic did not return after sustaining a mild concussion in the first period.
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