Lundqvist climbs NHL wins list, Rangers top Panthers

NEW YORK --Henrik Lundqvist moved into seventh place on the NHL wins list after helping the New York Rangers to a 4-2 victory against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Lundqvist made 39 saves to earn win No. 438 and pass Jacques Plante. Terry Sawchuk (445) is sixth.
"It's a proud feeling," Lundqvist said. "When you enter the top 10, I think it's the first time you really start to look at the list of really good goalies, goalies who played a huge part in the history of the game. It means a lot to me."
WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Rangers highlights]
Chris Kreider had three points (one goal, two assists), and Filip Chytil, Brendan Smith and Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the Rangers (10-8-2), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine games and have won five straight here, the longest home winning streak in the NHL this season.
Kreider was happy with how the Rangers responded to a 7-5 loss at the New York Islanders on Thursday.
"I thought we really did a good job of getting out in lanes tonight, picking up sticks, clearing out the crease and we were getting a lot of second whacks at pucks," Kreider said. "Guys do such a good job at protecting the house. If we continue to respond like that and learn from our mistakes we'll be in good shape."

Mike Hoffman had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (7-7-3) to extend his point streak to 15 games (18 points; eight goals, 10 assists). Aaron Ekblad scored, and Roberto Luongo made 20 saves.
"I'm here to produce and I wanted to get a goal here tonight," Hoffman said. "It's nice to get one and tie the game up but it wasn't enough."

Kreider scored his Rangers-leading 11th goal and fifth on the power play at 7:56 of the third period to put New York ahead 4-2 when he took a pass from Neal Pionk and beat Luongo over his right shoulder. Kreider extended his point streak to four games (seven points; four goals, three assists); he has three goals and two assists in his past two.
"He's been more straight-lined," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "It's the goal he scored on the power play with that type of speed just off the initial rush. I think he's been doing more of that lately. He's been on an every-other-game pace for goals. That's a pretty good pace."

Namestnikov gave New York a 3-2 lead at 2:17 of the second when the puck deflected off Luongo's helmet and skate and into the net.
"I think mentally going into the third period, 2-2 would have been … who knows maybe you squeak a point out, maybe you go into extra time," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "It's done, it's over. You can't control it. We just have to move on and clean up a few areas. But the game in general, I thought for being on the road here and coming out in this building, I thought we did a lot of good things."
Chytil made it 1-0 with his third goal in three games after going 17 straight without one, beating Luongo from a sharp angle at 3:03 of the first.
Hoffman tied it 1-1 at 4:40 with a shot from the point.
Ekblad put Florida ahead 2-1 on the power play at 10:11 with a shot from the top of the left circle, his third goal in three games.
Smith, a healthy scratch the previous three games, tied it 2-2 at 11:49.

They said it

"We had our chances. The difference was they capitalized on theirs and we didn't capitalize on ours. You're going to run into some good goaltending. In the NHL there's good goalies on every team. We played well tonight, but they capitalized on theirs and we didn't." -- Panthers forward Mike Hoffman
"It's a stat where it's really the team. It's more that as a goalie you've been a part of really good teams that have helped you be in this position. It's definitely a team stat. It's fun to know that you've been part of a lot of good teams and have a lot of wins." -- Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist on being in seventh place on the NHL wins list

Need to know

Lundqvist has 145 wins in overtime (85) or the shootout (60). Plante had 145 ties and Sawchuk had 171 ties playing before regular-season overtime was instituted in 1983-84. … Hoffman is the first player with a point in at least 15 games in his first season with a team since Dany Heatley (38 points; 17 goals, 21 assists) had a 22-game point streak with the Ottawa Senators in 2005-06. … Chytil is the only teenager in Rangers history to score in three consecutive team games. … New York is 12-2-3 against Florida since the start of the 2013-14 season. ... Ryan Strome, making his Rangers debut, had four hits and a blocked shot in 16:42 of ice time. He was acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for Ryan Spooner on Friday.

What's next

Panthers: At the Ottawa Senators on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDSI, TSN5, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Rangers: Host the Dallas Stars on Monday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)