Rangers 4, Hurricanes 1: Henrik Lundqvist overcame a scary sequence in the second period to finish with 31 saves and Rick Nash scored his NHL high-tying 29th goal as host New York continued its dominance of Carolina.

Dominic Moore netted his sixth career short-handed goal in the first period for the Rangers, who snapped a two-game skid and defeated the Hurricanes for the 15th time in 16 meetings - including nine straight at Madison Square Garden. Chris Kreider and defenseman Dan Boyle scored 21 seconds apart in the third as New York moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division by virtue of playing fewer games than Washington.

Brad Malone scored for the Hurricanes, who have dropped two in a row overall and all four meetings with the Rangers this season. Cam Ward turned aside 33 shots in falling to 3-12-1 on the road.

With New York nursing a 2-0 lead early in the second period, captain Ryan McDonagh's stick inadvertently lifted the mask of Lundqvist before Malone's shot from the right faceoff circle hit the Swede in the throat. Lundqvist squirmed on the ice for several moments before electing to stay in the contest, yielding only Malone's redirection of defenseman Ryan Murphy's hard centering feed at 5:38 of the session.

Nash intercepted Carolina blue-liner Andrej Sekera's pass and beat Ward with a wrist shot from the left circle 6:30 into the contest, pulling into a tie with Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin for the league lead in goals. Moore made a brilliant individual effort to double the advantage 4 1/2 minutes later, skating up the left wing before eluding All-Star defenseman Justin Faulk and tucking the puck past Ward.

GAME NOTEBOOK: With New York leading 2-1, RW Kevin Hayes skated into the right circle and fed former Boston College teammate Kreider on the doorstep midway into the third period. Boyle's shot from the point deflected off Carolina D Tim Gleason and sailed past Ward shortly thereafter. ... The Rangers scored first for the 15th time in 21 games and improved to 23-4-2 when netting the opening goal this season. ... Hurricanes C Jordan Staal won 14-of-19 faceoffs.