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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
MONTREAL (AP) -- Theo Fleury's day ended much better than it
began.
|  | | Mike Richter watched in the second period as Brian Savage went flying overhead Saturday night. |
Fleury became the 60th NHL player to score 400 regular-season
goals, extending his goal-scoring streak to four games, as the New
York Rangers went on to a 5-2 victory Saturday night over the
Montreal Canadiens.
"I was a little bit under the weather, but it was a great
effort by our team tonight," Fleury said. "I got a flu shot last
year and the same thing happened, it just kind of hits you a few
days after the fact. Hopefully it's just that 24-hour thing."
Whatever was wrong with him, Fleury didn't waste any time
reaching the milestone as he fired a shot over Jose Theodore's
right shoulder into the top corner of the net just 3:28 in. It was
his 11th goal of the season, and sixth during the streak.
"Thirteen years ago I began my career basically here in
Montreal by winning the Cup, so it's kind of fitting that 400 came
here," Fleury said.
Fleury, who scored just 15 times last season -- his first with
the Rangers -- immediately removed his right glove and picked up the
puck, which came directly back to him as it rebounded off the net's
mesh.
After joking to reporters that he wondered if he would have to
wait until 2010 to reach 400 goals in the midst of his frustration
last year, Fleury offered a simple explanation for his goal scoring
success so far this season.
"Instead of the puck hitting the post and going out, it's
hitting the post and going in," Fleury said. "That's the only way
I can explain it."
The Rangers (6-7-0-0), who lost 6-5 in Ottawa on Thursday, also
got goals from Adam Graves, Michael York, Mark Messier and Petr
Nedved for their third win in four games. The Rangers have scored
at least five goals in four straight games.
"We felt, in the room, that we had played pretty well the last
few games and it was disappointing that we didn't get at least a
point out of Ottawa," Messier said. "We felt that we needed to
come in here and keep the pace up that we had played the last few
games. We did that, we were skating well early and got some
opportunities, and capitalized on them."
It was the Rangers' first win in Montreal since Dec. 16, 1996.
They had been 0-3-3 in their previous six visits and 3-22-9 since
1983-84.
Mike Richter, who missed the first five games of the season
while recovering from knee surgery, turned aside 35 shots for his
third win in five starts.
Montreal lost its fifth straight to fall to 4-8-2-0. The
Canadiens are winless in six games.
"We're in a period where everything is difficult," Montreal
coach Alain Vigneault said. "And it's playing on our confidence
because that's something that comes with success."
Graves and York also scored in the first as all three Rangers
goals in the period came with the teams at even strength.
The Canadiens outshot New York 11-6 in the second period,
missing out on a great scoring chance midway when Sergei Zholtok's
shot from the slot struck the post to Richter's right.
Messier scored his seventh -- the 634th of his career -- on the
power play 16:39 later in the period to put the Rangers up 4-0.
Nedved beat Theodore at 1:28 of the third for his third of the
season before Trevor Linden ruined Richter's shutout bid with his
fourth goal at 6:51.
Jim Campbell scored his first of the season with 12 seconds left
in the game.
Game notes
Fleury, who signed with New York as a free agent on July 8,
1999, scored 364 goals with Calgary from 1988-99 and 10 goals in 15
games for Colorado after he was traded to the Avalanche on Feb. 28,
1999. ... Nineteen members of the 400-goal club played for the
Rangers. ... Montreal's Enrico Ciccone and Dale Purinton of the
Rangers fought twice in the first period. ... The Canadiens have
scored just 10 goals in their last five games, including four in a
loss Friday night at Buffalo.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Montreal Clubhouse
RECAPS
Los Angeles 2
New Jersey 1
Atlanta 8
Boston 3
NY Rangers 5
Montreal 2
Columbus 2
Ottawa 2
Philadelphia 3
Buffalo 0
Toronto 0
St. Louis 0
Washington 3
Florida 2
Anaheim 3
Nashville 3
Pittsburgh 1
Calgary 1
San Jose 4
Carolina 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Theo Fleury scores his 400th regular-season goal and extends his scoring streak to four games.
avi: 585 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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