It’s a Lost Night for the Rangers

The New York Rangers lost not once, not twice, but three times on Monday.

They lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1, at New York.

They lost winger Tim Sweeney for the rest of the season when he fractured his collarbone late in the first period.

And, earlier in the day, they learned that they had also lost center Pat LaFontaine for the rest of the season because of the lingering effects of a concussion suffered on March 16.

Tampa Bay goaltender Zac Bierk stopped 23 shots for his first NHL victory and teammate Mikael Andersson scored two goals and assisted on another. Mikael Renberg assisted on all three Lightning goals.

Boston 4, Colorado 1--The Bruins got two goals from Anson Carter and two fluke goals off Avalanche players at Boston to beat the Pacific Division leaders and keep their unbeaten streak going against winning teams. Since the Olympic break, the Bruins are 6-0-2 against winning teams and only 4-4 against sub-.500 clubs.

In the first period, Colorado’s Uwe Krupp, trying to clear a rebound toward the boards behind his net, inadvertently put the puck in on the right side.

In the second period, a shot ricocheted off the inside of Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy’s pad into the goal.

Edmonton 3, Calgary 1--Todd Marchant scored two goals at Edmonton to help the Oilers move into a tie for seventh place in the Western Conference. Both the Oilers and the Phoenix Coyotes have 68 points, leaving ninth-place San Jose three points shy of the last playoff spot.

Dean McAmmond also scored for Edmonton. It was his 16th goal of the season and the 6,000th in Oilers’ history.

James Patrick had the lone goal for Calgary, which trails Edmonton by seven points.

St. Louis 6, San Jose 2--Before this season, the Blues’ offense was primarily Brett Hull. Now, Hull is only one of many. He had three assists in the victory over the Sharks at St. Louis, but he was only one of 11 Blues players who scored a point.

St. Louis’ Terry Yake had a goal and an assist during a four-goal second period.

Hull may not have scored a goal, but one of his shots essentially led to three St. Louis tallies. With a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the second period, San Jose goalie Kelly Hrudey was driven to his knees when he took a Hull slap shot in his groin.

Hull got the puck off the rebound and fed it to Pierre Turgeon at the side of the net. With Hrudey still down and out of position, Turgeon slid the puck into the open net.

Hrudey was replaced for 63 seconds by Jason Muzzatti. Shortly after he got back in the nets, Hrudey gave up goals to Jim Campbell and Yake, and was replaced permanently by Muzzatti.

That was fine with Hrudey.

“I was out of commission,” he said. “Forget stopping the puck. I couldn’t even get my breath.

“For whatever reason, after I got hit, I had a hard time getting refocused to stop the puck. I’ve never been hit like that before.”

The Blues have won three straight after suffering through a season-high, four-game losing streak.