Jordan Staal scored his second goal of the game at 3:42 in overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied for a 5-4 victory over a shot-shy New York Rangers on Thursday.
Staal deflected Evgeni Malkin’s slap shot into the net and the assist extended the Russian’s point streak to a career-high tying 15 games as the defending Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh (38-22-4) also moved to the top of the Atlantic Division.
“That’s a pretty good example of how we want to play the game,” Pens coach Dan Bylsma told reporters. “You’d like to tilt the ice so it’s 70/30 and wear teams down. The feeling in our dressing room was [winning] was going to be inevitable.”
PHOTO: AFP
Mike Rupp and Alex Goligoski scored in the second and third periods respectively to send the game into overtime after the Penguins had trailed 4-2.
Four goals were scored in an eventful first period that ended in a 2-2 tie but the opening frame was highlighted by a major scrum between players of both teams following New York defenseman Marc Staal’s tussle with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.
Once calm was restored, Michal Rozsival and Brandon Dubinsky scored in the second to open a two-goal lead for the Rangers (29-27-8), who stayed in the game thanks to a career-high 50 saves from goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
“Hank [Lundqvist] was outstanding for us tonight,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “At the end of the night, we grabbed a point out of here. Although it was an ugly one, it is a point.”
The Penguins dominated the action and fired 55 shots to New York’s 16 while winning for the eighth time in the last nine matchups between the teams.
Rangers center Artem Anisimov opened the scoring at 2:17 in the first before Pittsburgh went up 2-1 following goals by Chris Kunitz and Staal’s first score of the night.
Chris Drury tied it for the home team with a power-play goal at 14:39 in the opening period.
Without leading scorer Marian Gaborik (cut knee), New York still sent an early message of their physical approach with the first-period blow on Crosby, who crumbled to the ground in the testy affair between the Atlantic opponents.
The win gave the Penguins (80) a one-point edge over the New Jersey Devils.
Coyotes 3, Avalanche 1
Wojtek Wolski beat his former Colorado teammates in his Phoenix debut, scoring the go-ahead goal with 22 seconds left as the Coyotes beat the Avalanche.
Wolski joined the Coyotes on Wednesday in one of the seven deals the team pulled off before the trading deadline.
Lee Stempniak scored for the Coyotes in the first period, and Radim Vrbata added an empty-net goal as Phoenix moved into third place in the Western Conference standings, three points above Colorado.
John-Michael Liles scored a power-play goal for the Avalanche in the second period.
Capitals 5, Lightning 4
In Washington, Scott Walker scored twice in three minutes of the third period in his first game with Washington, leading the Capitals over Tampa Bay.
Walker, acquired from Carolina on Wednesday, scored the winner off a rebound with 6:51 left.
Mike Knuble scored two and Eric Fehr also netted for the Capitals.
Vincent Lecavalier scored twice for the Lightning, Steven Stamkos added his 38th goal of the season, and Steve Downie also scored.
Sharks 3, Canadiens 2
In San Jose, California, San Jose move two points clear atop the Western Conference by downing Montreal.
Dany Heatley scored the tying goal and Manny Malhotra delivered the winner in a 2:33 span in the third period.
Patrick Marleau scored a short-handed goal for the Sharks, coming off their first back-to-back regulation losses of the season.
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta scored for Montreal.
In other games, it was:
• Predators 4, Kings 2
• Blues 6, Stars 1
• Hurricanes 4, Senators 1
• Thrashers 6, Islanders 3
• Bruins 3, Maple Leafs 2, SO
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