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Lundqvist notches 11th shutout, Rangers beat Bruins

Mar 26, 2011 - 11:50 PM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 shots for his NHL- leading 11th shutout of the season as the Rangers edged the Bruins, 1-0, at TD Garden.

The win gave New York 87 points, the same number as the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens and Rangers occupy the sixth and seventh positions in the Eastern Conference, with Montreal hosting Washington later on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Boston remains at 92 points and holds a five-point lead over Montreal for first place in the Northeast Division and third in the East. Boston, though, still has eight games to play while Montreal will have only six after Saturday's game.

Derek Stepan's goal, off assists from Michael Sauer and Vinny Prospal, was the only tally of the game and lifted the Rangers to a sixth win in their last seven.

Lundqvist, sporting a career-high in shutouts for one season, now has 35 whitewashes in 400 NHL games.

"We were ready for this one from the moment we stepped on the ice," said Lundqvist. "We wanted to bounce back from our last loss with a good effort and we had that today."

Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for the Bruins, who had won their previous two and were coming off a 7-0 rout of Montreal.

"The other team played a solid game and we were a little light on our sticks in the first 40 minutes," said Boston head coach Claude Julien. That put us in a bad situation and the third period was too little, too late."

Boston entered the third period trailing and outplayed the Rangers in an attempt to score the equalizer.

Outshooting the Rangers 12-1 in the final 20 minutes, the Bruins kept the pressure up throughout the frame, but Lundqvist came up with the saves, including a stop on a Dennis Seidenberg shot in the high slot and subsequent rebound attempt from Rich Peverley with under three minutes to play.

Boston pulled Rask for the extra attacker a bit later, but New York kept the puck away from Lundqvist to hang on for the win.

The Rangers got on the board 6:39 into the game after a right circle faceoff win saw the puck go back to the right point, where Sauer threw a shot on net that Stepan tipped in for his 20th goal of the season.

Lundqvist made eight saves in the first and six in the second.

Game Notes

The Rangers play in Buffalo on Wednesday...Boston plays in Philadelphia on Sunday...New York has taken two of three from Boston this season and the two teams will meet for a final time in the regular season in New York on April 4.