NEW YORK, N.Y. - Henrik Lundqvist didnt start this night with a ceremony in his honour, and he didnt finish it with a shutout. However, he and the New York Rangers skated off the ice Wednesday with a key 3-1 victory over the rival Philadelphia Flyers and an important two points in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. Lundqvist stopped 30 shots and came within 1:53 of his second shutout in three games. That was enough to earn his 30th win — a mark he has reached eight times in his nine-season NHL career. "It was huge. I thought we played a really strong game," said Lundqvist, who is in 24th place on the NHL win list with 306. "We just have to keep going, not think too much, just keep on our details." Lundqvist was honoured Monday for recently breaking the Rangers records for career wins and shutouts. The Rangers stretched their season-best winning streak to five games, and now embark on a four-game, Western Conference trip. It is their longest winning run since another five-game spurt from Dec. 30, 2011 to Jan. 10, 2012. The second-place Rangers moved three points ahead of third-place Philadelphia by winning what could be a playoff preview. New York has eight games remaining, and the Flyers have 10 left. "Its going to pay off to not make it too complicated for ourselves or think about the standings," Lundqvist said. Derek Dorsett scored in the first period, defenceman Ryan McDonagh added a goal in the second, and Dominic Moore made it 3-0 in the third against Steve Mason, who made 26 saves. The Flyers Jakub Voracek scored his 21st goal off a faceoff with 1:53 to go to make it 3-1. Voracek scored for the third straight game, but it was too little, too late for Philadelphia. The Flyers, who had a five-game winning streak broken against Los Angeles on Monday, have dropped two in a row for the first time since an 0-3-1 skid from Jan. 20-25. "We didnt play our game. We didnt have energy. It was a weird game," Flyers captain Claude Giroux said. "We have to do a better job of getting ready. We had some big wins over good teams lately. Now we need some rest." McDonagh, who has been on an offensive hot streak recently, did it all in scoring his 14th of the season to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. He stopped a clearing attempt at the centre of the blue line, skated into the right circle, and snapped off a hard, rising wrist shot that nestled into the top right corner of the net. "We were able to catch them throwing pucks, and our D and everybody did a good job keeping pucks alive," McDonagh said. "We really wore them down in the offensive zone." McDonagh, who assisted on the Rangers tying goal late in regulation against Phoenix on Monday and then netted the winner in overtime as part of a career-best, three-point night, has six goals and seven assists in his past 13 games. "For any team to win, you need your top players playing at a high level," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "(Lundqvist) has found his game, and Ryan McDonagh has just been a force out there. Hes got to be getting some consideration for the Norris (Trophy) the way he is playing offensively and defensively." Lundqvist did the rest in a quieter second period when his teammates outshot the Flyers 17-10. He moved well and didnt seem bothered by constant traffic in the crease. His best stop came with 5:23 left when he slid to his right to get his pad on a shot by Adam Hall off a rebound in tight. He then sprawled on his stomach and covered the puck with his glove. In the opening minute of the second, Lundqvist denied Wayne Simmonds on a redirected shot and then pounced on the rebound. Moore gave Lundqvist breathing room when he scored his sixth of the season with 12:21 remaining. "We didnt come out with our best effort," Mason said. "We have to be better in big games like this." Despite being outshot and outchanced by Philadelphia in the first, the Rangers carried a 1-0 lead into the intermission thanks to Dorsetts fourth of the season. Mason tried to swing the puck from behind his net up the left-wing boards, but it was intercepted by Brian Boyle along the wall. Boyle sent the puck in front to Dorsett, who knocked it down, gathered it and sent in a backhander at 8:41. The Flyers picked up the pace and built a 15-6 shots edge in the first and nearly tied it during a late power play. "Philly dominated us as far as shots, and they got some chances on that power play at the end," Vigneault said of the first period, "but that is when your goaltender has to come up big. "When we had some breakdowns, he was the difference." NOTES: With Chris Kreider sidelined by a hand injury, the Rangers called up centre J.T. Miller from Hartford (AHL). Kreider wont accompany New York on its trip that begins Friday at Calgary. ... The Flyers fell to 8-3-1 in March and 12-4-1 since Feb. 1. ... The Rangers have won eight straight over the Flyers at home, dating to March 6, 2011. Cheap Panthers Jerseys China . -- Mixed martial arts fighter Cristiane Justino Santos has been suspended and fined for testing positive for steroids. MacKenzie Weegar Jersey . Formula One Teams Association secretary general Oliver Weingarten says the organization collapsed over unpaid subscription fees and a failure to strike an agreement for 2014 with all 11 teams. http://www.cheapfloridapanthersjerseys.c...trocheck-jersey. But sometimes the way you lose takes precedence over the final score. And how the Jets lost the 5-4 game to the New York Islanders on Thursday is what had Coach Claude Noel hot after the game. Colton Sceviour Jersey . -- During a players meeting following the All-Star break, Jermaine ONeal promised his teammates to play the rest of the regular season like he would never play again -- because he very well might not. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand. Canadas Patrick Chan sits in second place in mens figure skating after a solid performance in his short program at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. One of his main rivals, Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu, sits just ahead of him in first place. Chan skated a largely clean routine, although he stumbled slightly in landing one of his triple axels — a jump that CBC figure skating analyst Kurt Browning said is "not his favourite comfort jump." Chans score of 97.52 was only one point off his all-time personal best of 98.52 in the short. It was not enough to surpass Hanyu, however, who beat his own world record in the short program with a score of 101.45 today in the event. Chan is the world record holder in the long program, which starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET. Despite having been home to several prominent figure skaters over the years, no Canadian man has ever won the Olympic gold medal in figure skating. Spanish skater Javier Fernandez is in third place, atop a group of skaters bunched tightly together, with only four points separating third place from eighth. Plushenko retires Earlier in the day Evgeni Plushenko surprised the figure skating world by withdrawing during warm-ups to his short program because he injured himself while awkwardly landing a jump. He then went to the judges table before bowing to the crowd and leaving the ice, saying later it felt like "a knife in my back.dddddddddddd" "After the first triple axel I stepped out and felt terrible pain in my leg and the second one was just a terrible landing," Plushenko said. "I couldnt feel my legs after it." He later announced his retirement from competitive skating. "I am sorry for my fans and for everybody, but I tried till the end. I almost cried," he said. "This is not how I wanted to end my career. I am very disappointed. But I tried to do my best." Plushenko, a three-time medallist in the mens event, was a darkhorse for the podium this time around and the host countrys only representative in the event. Another Canadian skater, Kevin Reynolds, failed to land two jumps and hit the ice twice during his short program, scoring a 68.76. Thats well off his personal best in the event of 85.16. "It was a disaster out there," Reynolds said after he finished skating. "I lost it on the first jump and it just snowballed from there. The result is where Im sitting now. Its incredibly disappointing for me." Reynolds performance was good enough to make the cutoff to perform in the free skate tomorrow. With files from Olympic News Service ' ' '