Luongo gets best of Lundqvist in top goalie duel (AP)

NEW YORK – Henrik Lundqvist's matchup against Roberto Luongo was hard enough. Trying to beat the NHL's hottest goalie without any help from his teammates was way too much to ask..

Lundqvist allowed five goals on 17 shots to Vancouver before the second period was 6 minutes old, and the Canucks held on for a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night..

All it took was eye contact with coach Tom Renney and a simple summoning with a finger to get Lundqvist to quickly skate off to the comfort of the bench..

"I looked at Tom and he gave me the sign," Lundqvist said. "It was a good call. It was a game where I had to be really sharp. There were a lot of situations where we got left alone out there.".

Luongo uncharacteristically allowed three goals, but finished with a season-high 39 saves in the victory..

What was expected to be a duel between Luongo and Lundqvist — the two favorites for this season's Vezina Trophy — turned out to be an offensive show. The Rangers helped Vancouver score its first four goals by turning over the puck. The fifth tally came with the Canucks on a 5-on-3 advantage and ended Lundqvist's night..

"We did a couple mistakes that led to the goals, but at the same time I have to stop them. That's my job," Lundqvist said..

In the only other NHL games Wednesday night, Boston beat Buffalo 7-4, and Washington topped Anaheim 6-4..

New York got within 5-3 during a spirited third period, but it was too late for a big comeback..

Alex Burrows scored two of Vancouver's five goals against Lundqvist, who was gone 5:33 into the second period..

"You never know in this game," Luongo said. "Things happen.".

Kyle Wellwood scored a breakaway goal 4:16 in and Burrows followed with another — while the Canucks were short-handed — to make it 2-0 at 9:38. A pass to Rangers defenseman Wade Redden bounced over his stick, creating the chance..

"The turning point in the game," said Rangers coach Tom Renney, who held a 10-minute postgame closed-door meeting. "I'm not going to suggest we were doing everything right at that point, but that was kind of the turning point and unfortunately it was really early.".

The barrage got worse in the second period. Burrows took advantage of yet another Rangers giveaway and netted his sixth goal 1:23 in. Ryan Johnson pushed the lead to 4-0 only 58 seconds later..

"That's our goal. Get on the forecheck and pressure their D men," Burrows said..

Vancouver appeared to score again, but Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival swept the puck off the goal line just before it fully crossed. New York got a reprieve from the long video review, but the Canucks made it 5-1 just 20 seconds later when Pavol Demitra ripped in his fourth of the season..

Lundqvist was replaced by Steve Valiquette, who stopped all 15 shots he faced. Lundqvist, who leads the league with 12 wins and started for the 14th time in 15 games, had gone 12 without allowing more than two goals..

"You can't give a team like that open looks," Rangers captain Chris Drury said. "Hank can't stop them all, as great as he is. As great as he's been, we can't leave him out to dry like that.".

Renney considered pulling him after the third and fourth goals, but decided to give Lundqvist a chance to fight back and the rest of the team the opportunity to play better in front of him..

"He was alone himself a couple of times," Renney said. "There was nobody to be seen. He is a great goalie, but not a great defenseman. He can't break it up, too.".

Daniel Sedin added an empty-net goal with 2.3 seconds left..

Drury scored a power-play goal, and Aaron Voros banked a shot in off of Luongo's back in the second period. Both goals trimmed the Rangers' deficit to three. Ryan Callahan added another man-advantage tally 7:45 into the third, but New York's winning streak ended at three..

Luongo made his 14th straight start, yet his streak of allowing fewer than three goals was snapped at six — a stretch that included three of his NHL-leading five shutouts. He is due for a night off Thursday when the Canucks make the third stop of a four-game trip at Minnesota..

"We scored a lot of goals early, and especially against a goalie like that it's nice to get," Luongo said..

Wellwood sent the Canucks on the way to their fifth win in seven games (5-0-2) when he split defensemen Rozsival and Dmitri Kalinin and scored his eighth goal on 21 shots this season..

Burrows then scored the league-worst seventh short-handed goal against the Rangers..

Capitals 6, Ducks 4.

At Anaheim, Calif., Alex Ovechkin extended his goal streak to five games and added three assists for visiting Washington..

The reigning NHL MVP had a power-play goal, and Tomas Fleischmann and Mike Green scored less than two minutes apart early in the first period with the man advantage..

Nicklas Backstrom, Matt Bradley and David Steckel also scored and Michael Nylander had two assists for the Capitals, who won for the sixth time in seven games..

Bobby Ryan scored his first two goals of the season and assisted on another for the Ducks..

Bruins 7, Sabres 4.

At Boston, Zdeno Chara and Chuck Kobasew each scored two goals, and Marc Savard had a goal and three assists against Buffalo..

The Bruins won their sixth straight at home and for the seventh time in eight games..

After falling behind 4-2 with 7:23 remaining in the first period, the Bruins scored five unanswered goals. Savard figured in on four, giving him 600 NHL points..

Buffalo has dropped three straight and four of five. Ryan Miller allowed seven goals on 20 shots.

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