Rangers Rely on Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky set up a pair of third-period goals to break open a close game and goaltender Mike Richter made 33 saves Sunday night to lead the New York Rangers to a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils at New York.

Gretzky set up Ulf Samuelsson 57 seconds into the third period for a 2-0 Ranger lead. Gretzky skated the puck into the New Jersey zone down the right wing, turned and passed to Samuelsson, who wristed a shot from between the circles past Martin Brodeur for his fourth goal.

Gretzky and Luc Robitaille worked a give-and-go 1:54 later for a 3-0 Ranger lead.

Edmonton 2, Hartford 1--Mats Lindgren scored a power-play goal 2:27 into overtime to give the Oilers a victory at Edmonton and send the Whalers to their fourth consecutive loss.

Lindgren, standing in front of Hartford goaltender Sean Burke, redirected a point shot from Doug Weight. The goal was Lindgren’s sixth of the season and gave Edmonton its first overtime victory in seven tries this season.

Buffalo 3, Phoenix 2--Jason Dawe’s unassisted goal 10 seconds into overtime led the Sabres to the victory over the Coyotes at Phoenix.

A Buffalo defenseman sent the puck up along the boards and Phoenix’s Dave Manson picked it up just outside his own blue line. He tripped over the linesman’s skate and lost control of the puck, allowing Dawe to take possession. Dawe broke in and put a wrist shot over goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin’s left shoulder.