Rangers persist for 3-2 victory

New York tied the game in regulation and then outlasted Pittsburgh in a shootout.

NEW YORK (AP) — Petr Prucha’s clutch goal was a month in the making.

Banished to the role of Broadway extra, Prucha returned to the Rangers’ lineup in a big way Wednesday night by scoring late in the third period in New York’s 3-2 shootout victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Prucha had been a healthy scratch for the previous 10 games — dating to Nov. 8 at Washington — and turned down the Rangers’ request over the weekend to go down to the AHL on a conditioning assignment. Confident he was fit enough to play, New York coach Tom Renney put him in and got rewarded.

“I felt pretty nervous before this game,” the 26-year-old Prucha said. “I felt like it was my last chance to show that I can play. I am really glad that I scored.

“I knew I’m ready for a game. That kept my confidence higher than before.”

Prucha had 30 goals as a rookie with the Rangers during the 2005-06 season, but has had only 30 since. This marked his first point in nine games this season and his first goal in 21 since Jan. 31.

Scott Gomez, who assisted on both Rangers goals to reach 400 in the NHL, fired wide but the puck bounced off the end boards to Prucha for the putback that beat sprawling goalie Dany Sabourin with 5:57 left.

“He was a very hungry hockey player tonight,” Renney said. “He was rewarded for that.”

Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev and Fredrik Sjostrom had shootout goals for the Rangers, who allowed only defenseman Kris Letang to score in the tiebreaker.

Henrik Lundqvist earned his NHL-leading 16th win and has given up only three goals in 19 shootout shots. New York, 7-1 in the tiebreaker, bounced back from a 4-0 loss to Florida.

New York avoided its second straight defeat following a three-game winning streak, that included two shootout wins on a Florida trip. Five of the Rangers’ last six victories have been by shootout.

“I am lucky to have such great scorers on the team who score every time,” Lundqvist said. “Every once in a while I let one in, too, but it doesn’t really matter because they’re on fire.”

Just as they did Oct. 25 in a shootout win, the Rangers erased Pittsburgh’s 2-0 lead late. Zherdev got New York even then by scoring with 8.1 seconds left in regulation, and started this comeback with a second-period goal.

Defenseman Mark Eaton scored for the first time in nearly three years, and Jordan Staal added a goal for the Penguins, who fell six points behind the Atlantic Division-leading Rangers. New York has won seven straight regular-season home games against Pittsburgh.

Sidney Crosby set up Eaton’s long-awaited 17th NHL goal and trails teammate Evgeni Malkin in the NHL scoring race by four points.