Skjei, Zibanejad, Lundqvist Lead Rangers Past Canadiens

NEW YORK (AP) — Brady Skjei and Mika Zibanejad scored, Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 shots for his 62nd career shutout and the New York Rangers picked up their first win of the season, beating the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 Sunday night.

Lundqvist was stellar in getting his 406th career win one night after getting pulled after he gave up five goals in the first period of an 8-5 loss at Toronto. He is now one away from tying Glenn Hall for ninth place on the NHL's career wins list.

Montreal had two goals disallowed earlier in the opening period. The first was taken away after a video review when officials determined forward Andrew Shaw kicked the puck into the net 6:24 into the game. Just more than 2 1/2 minutes later, Alain Vigneualt challenged another Montreal tally for goaltender interference and officials determined Canadiens captain, Max Pacioretty made contact with Lunqvist on the play.

Skjei benefited from a fortunate bounce late in the first as he tossed the puck to the front of the net and it deflected off Montreal defenseman Shea Weber's skate and in with 2:35 left.

Zibanejad scored for the third straight game, getting his fourth of the season near the midpoint of the third period to double the Rangers' lead. Pavel Buchnevich and Chris Kreider assisted on the play, giving New York's top line four goals and five assists through three games this season.

Carey Price finished with 23 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost two straight after a shootout win at Buffalo in their opener.

The teams were meeting for the first time since the Rangers eliminated the Canadiens in six games in the first round of the playoffs in April.

NOTES: F Filip Chytil and D Brendan Smith were both scratched for the first time this season while D Nick Holden and D Steven Kampfer made their season debuts. ... F Jesper Fast traveled with the team to Toronto this past Saturday and has been a full participant in practice recently. The Swedish winger had offseason surgery on his left hip and is expected to return to the lineup before the end of October. ... D Mark Streit, D Joe Morro, F Ales Hemsky were scratched for Montreal. ... Karl Alzner skated in his 543rd consecutive NHL game, the fifth longest streak among active NHL players and 17th longest in NHL history.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Host Chicago on Tuesday night in their home opener.

Rangers: Host St. Louis on Tuesday night.

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