It took a while for the New York Rangers to become accustomed to their revamped lineup. But look at them now, suddenly on a roll and challenging for top spot in the Eastern Conference.Scott Gomez scored the decisive shootout goal in a 3-2 win over the slumping Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, in helping the Rangers improve to 10-0-3 in their past 13 games, and move into a tie with Ottawa for fifth-place in the East.

Jaromir Jagr and Fedor Tyutin scored in regulation for the Rangers, who are getting solid goaltending, timely goals and winning on consecutive nights while closing to within three points of East-leading New Jersey.

“We’ve really galvanized as a group to find a way to do things and get points,” Rangers coach Tom Renney said. “That speaks volumes for their character.”

Almost 15 seasons have passed since the Montreal Canadiens beat the Los Angeles Kings to win the Stanley Cup for the 23rd time. The only remnants of their most recent championship are Patrice Brisebois and current coach Guy Carbonneau.Brisebois - now a part-time player at 37 - triggered a three-goal second period, and Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves in his first start of the season to lead the Canadiens to a 5-2 win over Los Angeles on Saturday.

The victory was the ninth in 12 games for the Canadiens, who are one point behind New Jersey for the best record in the Eastern Conference. The last time the Canadiens finished first in the conference was 1993 when they won the Cup by beating the Kings in five games.

“I have great memories of those finals, so it’s always fun to play the Kings here - even though it’s not at the Forum,” Brisebois said. “That’s a long time ago, 15 years already. I was young back then and I learned a lot from those playoffs and playing with guys like Kirk Muller, Vince Damphousse, Patrick Roy and Guy Carbonneau - who’s my coach now.”