Football
18y

Sykora nets pair in Rangers win over Bruins

BOSTON (AP) -- As the shootout rounds were piling up, New York
Rangers coach Tom Renney realized he was missing someone. A few
seconds later, Petr Sykora made the difference.

Sykora scored in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the
Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

Sykora also had a goal in regulation to stake New York to a 2-0
lead.

"I kind of forgot about him," Renney said with a smile. "He
was at the other end of the bench. That's the real honest answer."

In the shootout, Jaromir Jagr scored on the Rangers' first
chance. After a pair of saves each by New York's Henrik Lundqvist
and Boston's Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron scored to get the Bruins
even and send the tiebreaker into extra frames.

"I was upset about giving up the goal," Lundqvist said. "It
was pretty tough to face the next two. I had to stop them or the
game was over."

In the third bonus round, Sykora slipped a backhander inside the
right post. Lundqvist then made a left pad stop on Brad Isbister to
end it.

"I didn't really set my mind as to what I was going to do,"
Sykora said. "I just kind of let it happen when I was going to the
net."

Thomas was fooled.

"He just flipped it backhand," he said. "That was a tough one
to save because he doesn't give much motion."

The Rangers improved to 5-1 in shootouts -- including 3-0 on the
road -- while Boston dropped to 0-4.

Boston coach Mike Sullivan didn't have any answers for why his
team has struggled so badly in shootouts. The Bruins have just two
such goals.

"It really boils down to individual achievement, I guess," he
said. "Some players have skills in shootout-type situations. It's
something we do on a weekly basis for the goaltenders and players.
I don't know what else we can do to simulate this in practice."

Jason Ward also scored for the Rangers in regulation. Marco
Sturm and Brad Stuart scored in the second period to tie it for the
Bruins, who have gone to overtime in three of four games.

Michael Nylander stole a pair of bad clearing passes by the
Bruins to set up both New York goals, helping the Rangers grab a
2-0 lead early in the second period.

Ward gave New York a 1-0 edge 7:27 in after Nylander picked off
Brad Boyes' pass at the blue line and fed Ward alone behind the
defense. Ward shifted Thomas out of position and tucked the puck
into the net.

Sykora scored off the rebound of Ville Nieminen's shot to make
it 2-0 at 2:39 of the second. Sturm backhanded a pass into the
middle of his own end and Nylander stole it, setting up Nieminen in
front.

Sturm made up for his mistake by scoring from in close 5:24
later, cutting it to 2-1.

The Bruins tied it while skating with a two-man advantage 12:14
into the period. Stuart fired a slap shot past Lundqvist's stick
side from the left point. The Rangers were whistled for too many
men on the ice 15 seconds before Marek Malik was called for
tripping.

Game notes
Rangers LW Marcel Hossa was hit in the face by a puck from
Stuart's pass and went to the locker room late in the first period.
He came back for just 8 seconds in the second. ... Boston LW Sergei
Samsonov sustained a leg injury and didn't play in the third
period. ... New York closed a four-game road trip 2-2, and will
play its next five at home. ... Thomas started his fourth
consecutive game. ... New York entered ranked fourth overall in
penalty killing during home games, but 20th on the road.

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