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Sunday, Oct. 17 7:00pm ET
Fleury, Richter fire up Rangers | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- Mike Richter's back is fine, and so is Theo Fleury's scoring touch.
Richter made 30 saves in his return from a back injury and Fleury scored two goals to give the New York Rangers a 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Sunday night. "I felt better in the game than I did in practice all week," Richter said. "It was a good atmosphere to get into. "I had no pain at all, so I could push myself as hard as I wanted the last few days. The team played well enough in front of me where it wasn't too difficult, especially in the first period." Richter, who missed five games with a disc problem, was at his busiest in the second period when he stopped all 15 Atlanta shots while the Rangers scored twice on eight shots to take a 3-0 lead. The Rangers not only got their top goalie back in top form, but had their veteran players performing well with Fleury scoring twice, Petr Nedved and Kevin Hatcher once apiece, and Adam Graves contributing two assists. Fleury's production especially was a welcome addition to the offense. The high-priced free agent scored just two goals in seven previous games for the Rangers. Rangers coach John Muckler had a talk with Fleury about his lack of production before the game. "He told me that I needed to play better," Fleury said. "I knew that things haven't gone well over the last few games. It's nice to get a couple of goals. Hopefully, I can stay on a roll and continue to play well." Darryl Shannon scored the only goal off Richter, in the first minute of the third period. But Richter quickly made up for that with a spectacular blocker stop on Andrew Brunette's point-blank shot while falling down. The victory was the Rangers' fourth in five games, after a tie and two losses. The Thrashers fell to 1-3-2 in their first season. "Our guys played hard," Thrashers coach Curt Fraser said. "That's a pretty good team out there. But losing is unacceptable here. We've got to show our players where we need improvement." The Thrashers finished 1-1-1 on a three-game road trip. "We played really well in all three games," Thrashers goalie Norm Maracle said. "Tonight was just one of those nights. Goals went in off skates. They don't go in and it's a (close) hockey game." Fleury gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead when he scored from in front at 1:08 of the first period after taking a pass from Mike York behind the goal line. Graves tied up two Atlanta players behind the net, effectively giving the Rangers a man advantage. New York went ahead 2-0 at 9:40 of the second when Nedved's shot from the left point deflected into the net off the stick of Thrashers forward Denny Lambert, who was in the low slot. Fleury made it 3-0 at 13:21 when he beat Maracle in front after taking a pass from Graves on the right side and outracing the defense. The Thrashers ended Richter's shutout bid when Shannon scored from between the circles 23 seconds into the third. Hatcher completed the scoring with an empty-net goal in the final minute, his first for the Rangers. Along with Richter, forward Valeri Kamensky returned to the Rangers lineup after missing six games with a fracture in his right arm. He was held scoreless. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Atlanta Clubhouse NY Rangers Clubhouse RECAPS NY Rangers 4 Atlanta 1
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