Lundqvist has milestone night in Rangers' win

ST. LOUIS -- Henrik Lundqvist became the New York Rangers' all-time saves leader and first goalie in NHL history to record 30 wins in 10 of his first 11 seasons, and Chris Kreider scored the tie-breaking goal in the third period of a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center on Thursday.
Lundqvist made 35 saves to give him 17,404, surpassing Mike Richter (17,379). Lundqvist also moved into third place in NHL history for seasons with 30-or-more wins with his 10th after defeating the Blues. Lundqvist also tied Tom Barrasso for 16th place with his 369th victory.
"You know the names I'm up there with and obviously it's a huge honor," Lundqvist said. "Growing up, those guys were guys I was watching and now I'm up there with wins. To me, it's just a sign of I've been given a chance for a lot of years. This organization, when I came, I've been lucky to play with a lot of good players and been able to have a competitive team every year. I'm really happy about that."

Kreider scored his 12th of the season from the slot at 4:18 of the third period off a backhand pass from Oscar Lindberg.

"It was a hard work, it was an effort play," Kreider said. "[Lindberg] had a guy on his back basically the entire way up the ice. He got dragged down and is still able to make the play."
The goal came after Lundqvist stopped Scottie Upshall's breakaway attempt and moments after Dmitrij Jaskin had a chance to give the Blues a lead. Lundqvist extended his right leg to make that save.
"I thought he was going to go butterfly on me and I tried to get it up above his pad on the glove side," Upshall said. "I knew [Ryan] McDonagh was coming down on me. He's a big goalie. He's big in his net, he makes key saves at key times and he made some good stops down the stretch.
"Those are plays in the game that are momentum-changers. For us, I think we carried most of the momentum in the second and in the third. That play ends up being the play of the game. Unfortunately, we're on the other side of that. It [stinks]; it's tough."
Lundqvist making key saves are becoming old hat for Rangers coach Alain Vigneault.

"Every game you know that you're going to get his best effort and you're going to get great preparation and he's going to give you a chance to win," Vigneault said. "That's what you want from your goaltender."
Tanner Glass scored for the Rangers (35-20-6), who have won four of five on the road and conclude a three-game trip Saturday at the Dallas Stars.
"This is a tough building," Vigneault said. "That's a real strong team there. We got timely saves and we were able to get a couple of goals."
The Blues (35-19-9), who lost their second straight and center Jori Lehtera in the first period after he was hit in the face with an inadvertent puck, got a goal from Troy Brouwer. Jake Allen made 21 saves in his first start since Jan. 8.
The frustration boiled over for Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who lamented an ongoing problem for the Blues, which is not generating enough play in the "dirty areas."
"Their goalie outworked us," Hitchcock said. "Their goalie was more determined than we were. We didn't bear down around the net. We had opportunities around the net and their goalie outworked us.

"... We've got to see a change here. Living on playing well and working hard, we've got to see another gear, a little determination and hunger around the net if we expect to score goals. You're not going to get soft goaltending like we got in a couple games where we scored goals. This is focused teams right now with focused goaltending. We're going to have to be a lot more aggressive."
McDonagh (jaw/neck) returned after missing two games and defenseman Marc Staal (lower body) returned after missing a 5-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Glass scored his second goal of the season that gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 6:46 remaining in the first period when he tipped Dan Girardi's right point shot past Allen.
The Blues tied it on a power play when Brouwer was able to deflect in Paul Stastny's shot from the right point with 5:37 remaining in the second period. It was Brouwer's 12th goal of the season.
The Blues continued to push, but Lundqvist was dialed in.
"You need to make the most in every game," Lundqvist said. "You can't take anything for granted and that's why I'm trying to prepare like it's the playoff's right now."