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Drury guides Rangers to overtime win

Jan 17, 2009 - 6:11 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Captain Chris Drury helped the New York Rangers do something few other visitors have - win at the United Center.

Drury scored his second power-play goal of the game midway through overtime, giving the Rangers a 3-2 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

Brandon Dubinsky also tallied and defenseman Michal Rozsival notched a pair of assists for New York, which posted its third consecutive victory and improved to 11-4 in overtime this season.

"This was a great win for us," Drury said. "On the road, in front of (22,624) people and against a very talented and well-coached Blackhawk team. To hang in there is a big win for our team - hopefully, one that will carry us into the second half."

Captain Jonathan Toews recorded a goal and an assist and blue-liner Brent Seabrook also tallied for the Blackhawks, who had their eight-game winning streak at the United Center snapped in falling to 14-2-5 overall at home.

"We're just trying to win hockey games. Doesn't matter whether it's at home or on the road," Chicago All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell said. "Guys are starting to struggle a bit on the power play, and we just have to relax and go back to the drawing board."

Disregarding a loss to Detroit in the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on January 1, Chicago had not lost on home ice since November 16, when it dropped a 6-5 decision to San Jose. The Blackhawks were on their way to extending their streak in this one when Toews opened the scoring late in the first period.

Kris Versteeg, who leads all NHL rookies with 36 points, unleashed a wrist shot from the blue line that Toews tipped past goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for his 13th goal of the season.

But New York pulled even during a two-man advantage in the second. With Seabrook and fellow defenseman Cam Barker in the penalty box, Drury one-timed Rozsival's pass past netminder Nikolai Khabibulin from the left faceoff circle at 6:24 to knot the contest at 1-1.

Dubinsky put the Rangers ahead just under eight minutes into the third, when he scored from alone on the doorstep after receiving a pass from the left circle by Lauri Korpikoski.

However, the Blackhawks were given a 5-on-3 power play of their own late in the session and cashed in to forge a 2-2 tie. From the blue line, Seabrook drilled a slap shot that sailed just inside the left goalpost with 4:29 remaining for his fifth goal.

Despite getting new life, Chicago shot itself in the foot in overtime when Andrew Ladd was called for slashing at 2:12. It took New York just 11 seconds to capitalize, as Drury deflected defenseman Wade Redden's wrister from above the right circle past Khabibulin for his team-leading 15th tally.

"I kind of saw Dru in front by himself, and it wasn't a real hard shot, but Dru has such good hands that he was able to tip it in," Redden said.

"We did work hard to tie the game, and it was a tough break that cost us in overtime," Barker said.

Lundqvist made 32 saves for the Rangers, who improved to 3-0-1 on their five-game road trip.

"It was a crazy and a tough game to play, mentally and physically," the All-Star goalie said. "We had the puck in our zone so much, I just tried to stay square. The guys around me helped me feel good."

Lundqvist gave most of the credit to New York's penalty-killing unit, which successfully extinguished 10 of Chicago's 11 power plays.

"This was a great challenge for us, and I think we played outstanding," he said. "We had to kill a lot of minutes, and many times this year our penalty-killers were the best of our game. Tonight, they were No. 1."

"It was a weird game with the amount of penalties, and it was tough with the penalties," Dubinsky added. "Away from not wanting to say something about the officials, our guys did a fantastic job on the penalty kill, and Henrik was sharp."

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, whose team dropped to 23-8-7 since he took over for the fired Denis Savard on October 16, was not pleased with the club's power-play unit.

"You don't win when you have these types of chances and don't score on them, and that was the deal," he said.

Other members of the Blackhawks agreed.

"We should've got a lot more out of the power play," Campbell said. "We either didn't get our shots through to the net or, when we did, we didn't follow up with our second opportunities. If the goalie sees the puck, he will stop it. We didn't do enough in the area of screening him."

"They have one of the best group of penalty-killers in the league, and it showed," Barker said of New York's second-ranked penalty-killing unit.

Khabibulin stopped 19 shots in falling to 7-0-4 at home this season.