Times have sure changed for the New York Rangers. They're not only winning, they're doing it under adverse circumstances.

The new-look Rangers fell behind 25 seconds into Monday night's game in New York but came back to beat Toronto 6-2 for their fifth straight victory."There was a point in the season, early, where six goals wasn't going to be happening," defenseman Brian Leetch said. "Maybe a couple of weeks worth."

The Rangers are suddenly looking a lot different than the team that started the season 0-4. They've put together a six-game unbeaten streak (5-0-1), and their latest victory came against one of the best teams in the NHL. The Maple Leafs won six of their previous seven and fell out of a tie for the second-best record in the league with New Jersey.

"It's hard to convince people that when we were 0-4, that a lot of good things came out of those games," Wayne Gretzky said. "We played really hard and we were committed as a team to play together. From that point on, we just continued to work hard every day at practice."

The Rangers' streak has coincided with the strong play of goalie Mike Richter and the arrival of forward Petr Nedved in a trade. Richter made 24 saves Monday night and Nedved had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to seven games.

Nedved centered a potent line with Niklas Sundstrom and Mike Knuble that accounted for 10 points Monday night. Sundstrom had a goal and three assists and Knuble added a goal and two assists.

STARS 3, FLAMES 2: Mike Modano, Brian Skrudland and Sergei Zubov scored in the second period for Dallas at Calgary.

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