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Rangers end Pens’ win streak

3 min read
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Pittsburgh Penguins’ Marc-Andre Fleury stops a shot during the second period Tuesday against the Rangers. Fluery stopped 30 shots but allowed five goals.

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New York Rangers’ Kevin Klein (8) celebrates with Kevin Hayes after scoring a goal during the first period Tuesday.

NEW YORK – Mats Zuccarello scored the first of New York’s three first-period goals, Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves for his third shutout of the season, and the Rangers snapped Pittsburgh’s seven-game winning streak with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.

Martin St. Louis and Kevin Klein added goals in the first, Derick Brassard had a power-play tally in the second, and Rick Nash – who had two assists – scored a short-handed goal in the third for the Rangers, who broke a two-game losing streak.

Lundqvist earned his 53rd NHL shutout – extending his Rangers record.

The Penguins (10-3-1), who will complete a five-game trip Friday at Toronto, hadn’t allowed a power-play goal in 10 games, and their streak reached 39 kills before Brassard’s goal.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 30 shots for Pittsburgh, 5-1-1 on the road.

The Rangers shook off their lackluster performance in a 3-1 home loss to Edmonton Sunday and jumped all over the Penguins.

New York drew an interference penalty against Sidney Crosby just 57 seconds in. It didn’t produce a goal, but generated four shots and set the tone. Fleury was sharp early and kept the Penguins in it for as long as he could.

Pittsburgh was being outshot 9-3 but nearly grabbed a 1-0 lead when a drive got behind Lundqvist and slid toward the empty net. Rangers forward Tanner Glass alertly swept the puck away from the goal line just in time with 12:18 remaining.

No one bailed out Fleury.

Derek Stepan won a faceoff in the right circle back to Zuccarello, who snapped a drive that beat Fleury at 8:23 for his third goal of the season – all scored in his past six games. It was also his 100th NHL point.

Just 2:36 later, St. Louis doubled the lead with his fifth goal. Marc Staal’s shot from the left point struck defenseman Robert Bortuzzo in front, and the rebound came to Rick Nash, who quickly slid the puck to his right to St. Louis, who slammed it past Fleury.

Klein pushed the advantage to three with 5:13 left in the first, scoring with a drive from the blue line.

The Penguins received their first power play in the final minute of the first, but couldn’t take advantage, even with the benefit of clean ice at the start of the second.

Fleury returned to the sharp play he displayed early and held off the Rangers for a while. He even got the benefit of a waved-off goal because of traffic in the crease.

But the Rangers broke through the Penguins’ formidable penalty-killers and made it 4-0 while Steve Downie served a roughing penalty. Brassard calmly skated into the right circle and deftly snapped a shot that appeared to glance off Fleury and sail under the crossbar with 9:11 left in the second.

Lundqvist remained steady at the other end, and made his best save of the night when he turned aside a quick one-timer from in front by Chris Kunitz with 2:51 left in the second.

Nash made it 5-0 with his 12th goal of the season at 7:45 of the third.

Crosby, the NHL’s leading scorer with 24 points, went pointless for the second time in three games. … Rangers D John Moore returned from a five-game suspension. … Penguins D Kris Letang was briefly injured, but returned in the second period. … Pittsburgh is 10-5 in its last 15 regular-season visits to New York and 10-3-1 in its last 14 meetings with the Rangers.

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