Goalie Richter Anchors NY Win

THE BALTIMORE SUNNEW YORK -- The New York Rangers can relax -- for at least a day -- after tying the NHL Stanley Cup championship series at a game apiece.It took a short-handed goal by Glenn Anderson, an inspiring performance by goalie Mike Richter in the final period and a lot of physical attacks on Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean, but the Rangers beat the Canucks on Thursday night, 3-1.The series moves to Vancouver for Games 3 and 4 Saturday and Tuesday nights. After falling behind 2-1 on Anderson's short-handed goal with 11:42 gone in the second period, Vancouver came out firing in the third.But it was then that Richter came through for New York. The Rangers goalie had made 28 saves in Game 1, but no one had noticed, as Canuck's McLean turned in a 52-save performance for a 3-2 overtime victory.Thursday night, everyone, including the Canucks, noticed Richter.He stopped three series of back-to-back shots in the first minute of the final period. He stopped Pavel Bure point-blank. He rejoiced at the sound of rubber pucks clanging off the cross bars and posts -- four times -- through the night.And in the end, it was Richter who could call it a satisfying night.McLean allowed two goals. The other was an empty-net goal by Brian Leetch with four seconds left. The Rangers outshot the Canucks 40-29.While his teammates tried to solve Richter, it was McLean who again kept the Canucks within striking distance and a chance to at least tie before regulation time expired.But Thursday night, there was no sudden life for Vancouver even after pulling McLean with 40 seconds to play. Rangers Coach Mike Keenan said his team needed to convince McLean that he could not have another 52-save game as he had in Game 1. So when the Rangers came out for the first period, the first thing they did was go for McLean's body.They bumped him and hooked him and poked him. And with 6:22 gone, Doug Lidster carried the puck into the Vancouver crease and basically hurled McLean and the puck over the goal line for a 1-0 Rangers lead.McLean argued a moment and then picked himself up and straightened his equipment. He proceeded to shut the door for the rest of the period, while his Canucks teammates decided to get into the game with some strong forechecking.The forechecking resulted in better offensive opportunities for Vancouver, which was outshot 12-2 over the first 10 minutes.But with 14:04 gone, Cliff Ronning passed the puck into the Rangers zone and Bret Hedican gave it back to him on Richter's left. Ronning took a swing at it and Richter hugged the left post as the puck cleared his right shoulder, hit the cross bar and dropped, unknown to Richter, directly behind him in front of the goal line.An instant later, Vancouver left wing Sergio Momesso skated out from behind the net and tapped the puck home for a 1-1 tie.Either the Rangers and Canucks have been doing a terrific job killing penalties in this series or neither can get their power play units untracked.The Rangers were held scoreless in four tries in Game 1, and the Canucks went scoreless for five.