‘Fleury’ of goals powers Rangers over Penguins

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Brian Boyle scored his first goal of the season and Ryan Callahan added his first since returning from a broken thumb as the New York Rangers matched a season high in goals with a 5-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh had won four straight and defeated New York eight times in nine meetings, but Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan scored 1:05 apart late in the first period to put the Rangers ahead. Boyle and Callahan connected within a 2:28 span of the second to send New York to its fourth win in five games.

Derick Brassard made it 5-1 at 9:57 of the third, and Brad Richards had two assists for New York, which rebounded from a 2-1 loss to Anaheim on Monday and completed a 3-1 homestand. Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves.

Kris Letang’s power-play goal pulled the Penguins to 3-1 with 5:26 left in the second, but Callahan’s fourth of the season — in his second game back in the lineup — restored the Rangers’ three-goal lead 1:04 later.

Marc-Andre Fleury, who sat out Pittsburgh’s 3-0 win at Columbus on Saturday, stopped 20 shots.

The Rangers (7-8) scored more than three goals for the second time this season but reached five for the second time in three games. Pittsburgh (11-5) fell to 4-3 on the road and allowed more than two goals for only the sixth time.

New York led 2-0 when Richards found Boyle streaking down the middle of the Pittsburgh zone for a shot that got past Fleury with 6:50 remaining in the second.

For the opening 18 minutes of the game, the Penguins had everything going their way. But despite controlling the puck and having multiple scoring chances, Pittsburgh remained locked in a scoreless tie.

Then, in just more than a minute, the Rangers cashed in a pair and skated off with a stunning 2-0 lead.

Boyle won a puck battle behind the Pittsburgh net and backhanded a pass into the left circle that McDonagh gathered before snapping off a shot that beat Fleury with 1:52 left in the first for his third goal.

BLACKHAWKS 4, JETS 1

CHICAGO

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored in the first period to lead Chicago over Winnipeg.

The Blackhawks also got goals from Brandon Pirri and Patrick Sharp in their fourth win in five games. Corey Crawford made 24 saves and defenseman Duncan Keith had two assists.

Devin Setoguchi scored his third goal for the Jets in the third period of his 400th career game. Al Montoya had 24 stops in his second career game in his native Chicago.

It was the Blackhawks’ second convincing victory over the Jets in five days. Chicago won 5-1 in Winnipeg on Saturday.