VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Ex-Ranger Mike Ridley scored twice, including the go-ahead goal late in the second period, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
Alexander Mogilny added a goal and an assist for Vancouver, which has won three straight and completed a sweep of the season series with the Rangers for the first time in franchise history.
"How can you not like it?" Mogilny said of the winning streak. "I am pleased by how we are playing. Last year, we had some trouble at home, but now we are starting to string some wins together here. Obviously, we have to take these games one game at a time, but we are turning it around and we should be able to win a few."
With the score tied 2-2, Canucks defenseman Mark Wotton stopped a clearing attempt at the New York blue line. He was tied up by the Rangers' Brian Leetch, but Mogilny picked up the loose puck and threw it in front.
Ridley cut down the slot and snapped a low shot that beat goaltender Mike Richter to the stick side with 59 seconds left in the second period.
"A couple of the guys like (Esa) Tikkanen did a great job getting it out of our zone, but that shows you we are really shutting teams down when we have to," Ridley said. "In three games at home here, we have only allowed three goals. If you do that, you are going to do well in this league. At the other end, we seem to be getting the goals at the right time now."
Ridley tallied again 62 seconds into the third, again charging down the slot to take a pass from Scott Walker before putting the puck past Richter.
The goals were Ridley's first in eight games since Nov. 2.
The Rangers, who have lost three straight, cut Vancouver's lead to 4-3 when Niklas Sundstrom scored off a goalmouth scramble with 8:07 remaining.
But Pavel Bure had an empty-net tally with less than a second left to seal the victory.
New York is 1-7-1 in its last nine games and fell six games below .500.
The Rangers, who have lost three straight, cut Vancouver's lead to 4-3 when Niklas Sundstrom scored off a goalmouth scramble with 8:07 remaining. But Pavel Bure had an empty-net tally with less than a second left to seal the victory.
"My job is to win. It is the same each game. We were in this game and we've got to be in the next. That's the important part of my job," said Rangers coach Colin Campbell, who is coming under increasing criticism. "(Losing) is hard on us the coaching staff and it's got to be hard on our players. You get a guy like (Christian) Dube who gets a chance out there and he's on for two goals-against. I'm sure he's broken hearted like the rest of us. Tonight, the guys came out, put our loss in Edmonton behind us and we got another loss."
Rangers captain Mark Messier insisted his team is remaining upbeat.
"We have a good group of guys here, some good character players," he said. "They are playing hard for the coach, but most importantly for each other. Those are the good signs. Those are the good things that are happening. There are some bad things that could be happening that are killers for a team, but those aren't happening right now."
The Rangers jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Alexander Karpovtsev in the first period and Daniel Goneau in the second. But David Roberts and Mogilny scored in a 5:12 span midway through the second period to lift Vancouver into a 2-2 tie.
Corey Hirsch, another former Ranger, made 25 saves and extended his personal winning streak to three games.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Mike Ridley
2. Scott Walker
3. Alexander Karpovtsev
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