New York Rangers vs St. Louis Blues Box Score on Dec 31, 2018

Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves, New York won the special teams battle and the Rangers defeated the host St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Monday.

Lundqvist was dominant in goal, stopping 16 shots in a frantic third period to pick up his 443rd career win. He is two behind Terry Sawchuk for sixth on the NHL's all-time list.

Mats Zuccarello scored a first-period power-play goal while the Rangers were a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Boo Nieves also tallied for the Rangers, who won their second straight and have earned points in nine of their last 11 games.

Ryan O'Reilly scored for the Blues, who have dropped back-to-back games after winning six of nine.

Goalie Jake Allen started for the 12th consecutive time for St. Louis and made 21 saves after giving up four goals and being pulled in Saturday's 6-1 home loss to Pittsburgh.

Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who played parts of seven seasons with the Blues, returned to action after missing seven games and played in St. Louis as an opposing player for the first time since being traded to Washington in February of 2017.

The Blues welcomed back fourth-line left wing Robby Fabbri after he missed 11 games. Both Fabbri and Shattenkirk were out with separated shoulders.

St. Louis tallied first when O'Reilly scored on the club's fourth shot, finishing a give-and-go exchange with David Perron by blasting in his team-high 15th goal from above the left circle at 10:08.

After failing to score on two power plays, New York tied it at 1-1 when Zuccarello scored on the third man advantage after his shot struck Allen's right pad and trundled in with 20 seconds left in the period.

Nieves backhanded a shot after a quick line change by the Rangers, and the puck struck a defender and went in for New York's first lead at 3:11 of the second period. It was the center's second goal of the season and proved to be the difference.

St. Louis pulled its goalie with 2:37 remaining in the third period to get the extra attacker on, but Lundqvist was a brick wall in multiple scrums as the Blues failed to tie the game.

--Field Level Media