Crombeen Strike Leads Blues Past Slumping Rangers

Crombeen then beat New York defenseman Marc Staal to the puck and flipped it over a fallen Lundqvist.

B.J. Crombeen's third-period tie-breaker led the lowly St Louis Blues to a 2-1 home victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Monday.

Crombeen collected his 10th goal of the season 14:46 into the third to give the Blues, the last placed team in the Central Division, a second consecutive win.

The score came after Blues defenseman Barret Jackman powered a left-wing slap shot toward the goal that Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist denied with his left pad.

Crombeen then beat New York defenseman Marc Staal to the puck and flipped it over a fallen Lundqvist.

"It (the puck) was kind of bouncing but it came out on my stick, and I just wanted to wait until he (Lundqvist) was down and out of it," Crombeen told reporters.

Carlo Colaiacovo put St Louis ahead 10:27 into the second before New York's Lauri Korpikoski tied the score about six minutes later.

The loss was the third in a row for the Rangers, third in the Atlantic Division. They have won only once in nine games to drop to sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 66 points, two points ahead of the final playoff spot.

Blues netminder Chris Mason had 19 saves as the Rangers took only seven shots in the first period, nine in the second and four in the third.

"The second half of the game, I just thought we totally dominated," Mason said. "We didn't give them anything, the third period especially."

Lundqvist made 31 stops for New York in the first meeting between the two teams in St Louis since 2005.

NHL RESULTS on Monday (home team in
CAPS)
NY ISLANDERS 3 Pittsburgh 2 (SO)
ST LOUIS     2 NY Rangers 1
Dallas       3 COLUMBUS   2 (SO)
Ottawa       2 NASHVILLE  0
Edmonton     3 PHOENIX    1