Nashty Boy: Rick Nash (center) is congratulated by J.T. Miller (left) and Mats Zuccarello (right) after scoring another goal.
AP Photo by Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Rick Nash is on fire. He continued his tear scoring twice highlighting the Rangers latest win. Nash scored on a breakaway and shorthanded to extend his career high point streak to 11 (8-6-14) in the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Flames. They continue to come together sweeping the three-game portion of a Northwestern Canadian swing by beating Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary in succession.

It was their season high fourth consecutive win. It’s huge due to Washington gaining a point in an NHL record shootout loss to Florida that required 20 rounds. With the Blue Jackets staying hot winning in a shootout at Detroit, every point is crucial. The Rangers moved back into third place by virtue of one more ROW (14) and one less game played than the Capitals. They lead Columbus by six points. The Jackets passed the Devils due to two less games played and are a point ahead of the Flyers. Considering the state of the Turnpike rivals, figure Columbus to give us and Washington stiff competition.

When this road trip started, we didn’t know much about the Blueshirts. Similar to last year, they’ve been up and down. Also identical is they’re playing their best hockey now. In the three wins, they’ve outscored opponents 12-3. The common denominator has been Henrik Lundqvist, who again was at his best making some key stops as they pulled away. He finished with 29 saves. He improved to 4-0-0 during the win streak with a 1.47 GAA, .946 save percentage and a shutout. That’s more like it.

With Lundqvist back to form and the team clicking on all cylinders despite no Derick Brassard (mumps) for a second game in a row, they should feel pretty good about themselves. After winning all three in a four day span, they get the next three days off before a pivotal home-and-home against Carolina. That’s followed by a big home game next Tuesday against the Caps.

In an oddity, their first two goals were unassisted. The first coming from Nash. Off a Calgary misplay, he flew in on and easily beat Karri Ramo with a beautiful forehand deke. The Flames had a couple of chances on Lundqvist but he made a big save and got help from the post and Kevin Klein. After doing nothing on their first power play, the Rangers benefited from an odd bounce which allowed Chris Kreider to erase a 13-game goal drought. With nothing happening, his hustle paid off when Ramo and his defenseman fumbled the puck allowing Kreider to stuff in his fifth for a power play goal with eight seconds remaining in the period. Most amusing was his reaction of “Thank God,” after he scored. He needed it.

With the Flames on an early power play in the second, Nash made them pay when he finished off a brilliant passing play from Derek Stepan and Dan Girardi for a shorthanded goal. Girardi made a big defensive play leading to Stepan coming in with Nash two-on-one. He passed across for a sweet Nash finish. The goal was his 20th. It marked the 11th straight season Nash has scored at least 20 stretching back to his second year with Columbus in ’03-04. An impressive feat considering the shortened season in his Broadway debut and injuries. As a Blueshirt, Nash has 67 goals and 47 assists for 114 points in 128 games. He’s having a special season and should be in the Hart discussion.

How in sync are the Rangers? Even Lundqvist felt confident enough to come out and play the puck leading directly to their fourth goal. He aggressively made a nice outlet for Martin St. Louis, who fed for a streaking Stepan who did the rest converting a wrap around for his third which increased to 4-0 midway through the contest.

Calgary coach Bob Hartley had finally seen enough pulling Ramo (4 GA on 13 shots) in favor of Jonas Hiller. The move worked right away with his team responding just 41 seconds later when Jiri Hudler deflected home a Mark Giordano point shot from Matt Stajan. That cut it to 4-1 with 8:04 left. It was danger time. The Flames made a push but were unable to draw any closer due to Lundqvist, who was busy making 15 saves in the second. His rebound control has been much better since returning.

The only other notable highlight was Tanner Glass sticking up for J.T. Miller after he took a tough hit from Lance Bouma. Bouma caught Miller along the boards. Good thing he ducked or it could’ve been worse. Glass didn’t take kindly immediately dropping the gloves with Bouma. That is the first instance I can remember in which he stood up for a fallen teammate all season. As has been well documented, he isn’t the most physically gifted. But he is a good team guy. It was nice to see him take care of business.

Carl Hagelin added an empty netter for a second straight game. Maybe we can refer to him as the closer. The Flames got a Curtis Glencross power play goal with 1:15 left in regulation as window dressing. All in all, a great job by the Blueshirts.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Chris Kreider, NYR (goal-5th, 3 SOG, 3 hits, +1 in 17:41-looking better)

2nd Star-Derek Stepan, NYR (goal-3rd, assist, +2 in 15:26)

1st Star-Rick Nash, NYR (2 goals-breakaway, SHG-19, 20 in 15:26-Nashty)