Rangers Blank Blues, Blackhawks Trounce Flames

By ESPN

For Henrik Lundqvist, the focus is not on recording shutouts. Instead, the emphasis is just on playing well -- individually and as a team.

Shutouts, he reasoned, are satisfying byproducts of everyone perfectly executing the game plan.

"Every goalie, you feel good about your game when you get a shutout," Lundqvist said after making a season-high 35 saves for his 60th career shutout to lead the New York Rangers to a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. "Every game you're looking for the complete game (where) you don't give up goals, obviously. It's a good feeling when you do that."

Jimmy Vesey had a goal and two assists, and Dan Girardi, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes also scored for New York, which has won seven of its first 10 games.

Chris Kreider, who missed the previous four games due to neck spasms, had two assists as 11 Rangers players recorded at least one point.

"We're making plays when they're there," defenseman Marc Staal said. "It's allowing us to be effective and right now we're scoring on chances which helps, for sure."

Jake Allen started in goal for St. Louis and allowed four goals on 19 shots until he was replaced by Carter Hutton after Zuccarello made it 4-0 with 7:05 remaining in the second. Hutton stopped eight of the nine shots he faced. The Blues lost for the third time in five games.

"That's a hell of a team," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They gave us a hell of a lesson. They are playing great team hockey and they just exposed any weakness we had. They exposed it. They've done it to a few teams."

The Rangers led 2-0 after goals 1:34 apart midway through the first period. Giradi opened the scoring 9:37 in with a 4-on-4 goal at 9:37 as his shot ricocheted off the skate of the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko and bounced off the ice and past Allen's glove side.

Vesey then doubled the lead 1:34 later on the power play as he skated down the slot and snapped a pass from Derek Stepan past Allen's stick for his sixth of the season.

"I'm starting to get really confident out there and try some things I might not have tried a couple games ago," Vesey said. "I think confidence is everything in this game and right now it's high. ... I am riding that."

Blackhawks 5, Flames 1

Patrick Kane was terrific, and Corey Crawford had another solid performance for the Blackhawks.

Oh, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 6 of the World Series.

"Sure is a good day for the city of Chicago," Blackhawks forward Tyler Motte said.

Indeed.

Kane had a goal and two assists, and the Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Tuesday night for their third straight win. Then there was another loud cheer in the nearly empty United Center as fans in the private boxes and bars celebrated the final out of the Cubs' 9-3 victory in Cleveland.

The Blackhawks know a little something about success, winning the Stanley Cup three times since 2010, and they seem to be enjoying the Cubs' run. Moments after the Blackhawks' victory, coach Joel Quenneville was already looking forward to Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday night.

"It's going to be a fun day for Chicago tomorrow," he said. "Biggest game maybe in the whole history of Chicago sports."

Kane scored his third of the season on a dazzling play in the first, and then set up Artem Anisimov's tiebreaking power-play goal at 7:44 of the third. Anisimov extended his career-best point streak to eight games with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

With Sam Bennett in the penalty box for tripping, Kane made a perfect pass to Anisimov in front for the redirect. Motte added his third of the season on an impressive rush, making it 3-1 at 12:44, and Kane assisted on Artemi Panarin's sliding empty-netter with 3:01 left.

"For us, it's probably as ugly a 5-1 win is gonna get for our team," Kane said. "Still can be better."

Crawford finished with 33 saves after posting his first shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday.

Tuesday, November 1 Scoreboard

New York Rangers 5, St. Louis 0

Columbus 3, Dallas 2 (OT)

Tampa Bay 6, New York Islanders 1

Toronto 3, Edmonton 2 (OT)

Ottawa 2, Carolina 1 (OT)

Boston 2, Florida 1

Buffalo 2, Minnesota 1

Washington 3, Winnipeg 2

Chicago 5, Calgary 1

Nashville 5, Colorado 1

Arizona 3, San Jose 2

Anaheim 4, Los Angeles 0

Wednesday, November 2 Schedule (Times Central)

Vancouver at Montreal, 6:30 p.m.

Detriot at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Anaheim, 9:30 p.m.