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Canadiens not as bad as Rangers

IN THE long, storied Original Six history of the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers, the latest chapter will hardly be remembered fondly - by anyone.

IN THE long, storied Original Six history of the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers, the latest chapter will hardly be remembered fondly - by anyone.

The Canadiens, however, left Madison Square Garden as the happier of the teams after they rallied to gut out a 3-1 win Tuesday night that stretched Montreal's winning streak to five and ended the Rangers' run at points at five (4-0-1).

"I thought it was probably one of the worst hockey games I've been involved in. Both teams," terse Rangers coach John Tortorella said. "It was two bad teams playing, and we worse than they were.

"That pretty much sums it up, huh?"

The clubs combined for eight shots in the scoreless first period. They both mustered a goal in the second, and Montreal connected for two in the third - including an empty-netter.

Alex Galchenyuk broke the tie to put the Canadiens ahead for good. Montreal had 18 shots and made the most of little offense against Henrik Lundqvist.

"We were just really focused on getting the win," Galchenyuk said. "On the road, this was huge for us."

The Canadiens clogged up the middle to keep the Rangers from many scoring chances.

"It's a game of patience when you play a team like this," Lundqvist said. "They play extremely boring, but they're a smart team and they didn't give up much.''

Rangers high-scoring winger Rick Nash was ruled out of the game due to an undisclosed injury.

In other games * 

At Chicago, Patrick Kane and Andrew Shaw scored in the shootout and the Blackhawks defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-3, to extend their season-opening point streak to an NHL record-tying 16 games (13-0-3).

Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa had to be helped off the ice after Vancouver winger Jannik Hansen hit him in the back of the head with his left forearm.

The play occurred early in the third period, after Hossa scored a pair of goals in the second.

* At Nashville, Shea Weber scored 44 seconds into overtime to give the Predators a 4-3 victory against the slumping Detroit Red Wings, who have lost four in a row.

* At Tampa, Steven Stamkos scored his 10th goal, Benoit Pouliot had three assists and the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2.

* At Ottawa, Andre Benoit and Dave Dziurzynski scored their first NHL goals and Craig Anderson made 37 saves as the Senators defeated the New York Islanders, 3-1.

* At Buffalo, Ondrej Pavelec made 29 saves to help Winnipeg snap a three-game skid with a 2-1 win over the Sabres.

* At St. Louis, Antti Niemi made 25 saves and Tim Kennedy scored in the third period to help the San Jose Sharks end a seven-game winless streak with a 2-1 win over the Blues, who have dropped five consecutive home games.

Noteworthy * 

Calgary defenseman Mark Giordano was fined $10,000 by the NHL for slew-footing Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel . . . Minnesota Wild right wing Devin Setoguchi was fined just over $8,000 by the NHL for a high-sticking penalty that leveled Detroit defenseman Kyle Quincey.