NEW YORK (AP) -Sean Avery posted his third two-goal effort in a month and Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves for the New York Rangers, who got back to their winning ways with a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
Avery gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first period and then provided insurance in the third when New York restored the two-goal edge it squandered in the second. Avery has 10 goals in 15 games.
The Rangers shook off an empty two-game trip to Florida that broke their 13-game point streak (10-0-3).
New York also slowed down the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins, who had won three in a row. Crosby, the reigning NHL MVP and scoring champion, missed his third straight and 24th of 27 because of a high ankle sprain, and is expected to sit out at least one more.
The Rangers kept Evgeni Malkin, the league’s second-leading scorer, without a point and recorded 30 shots on Ty Conklin.
Jarkko Ruutu and Jordan Staal scored for the Penguins in the second period.
Blues 4, Canadiens 3, SO
MONTREAL (AP) – Brad Boyes scored his 38th goal and was the only player to score in the shootout, and St. Louis ended a 10-game road losing streak.
Blues goalie Manny Legace stopped Saku Koivu, Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Kovalev in the shootout.
Boyes, who scored in the second period, put a backhand past Jaroslav Halak on St. Louis’ second shootout attempt.
Keith Tkachuk and Andy McDonald also scored for the Blues.
Chris Higgins, Saku Koivu and Mikhail Grabovski scored for the Canadiens, who are tied with New Jersey for the Eastern Conference lead with 90 points.
Flyers 3, Thrashers 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Vaclav Prospal scored goals and Philadelphia kept its hold on the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Antero Niittymaki allowed a goal 58 seconds into the game, but was nearly flawless in helping the Flyers to their 10th straight series win against the Thrashers.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 50th goal of the season for the Thrashers in the final minute.
The slumping Flyers broke a four-game losing streak and took a season-high 47 shots.
Blue Jackets 3, Flames 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Backup goalie Fredrik Norrena made 18 saves for his first shutout of the season and Columbus beat Calgary.
Norrena – who had a career-high 43 saves in a 4-3 win against Detroit on Sunday – started his second straight game for Pascal Leclaire, out with a concussion.
Manny Malhotra scored two goals for the second straight game and Rick Nash had a goal and two assists for Columbus.
Dan Fritsche added two assists for the Blue Jackets, who have won three of four.
Maple Leafs 3, Islanders 1
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Pavel Kubina scored a third-period power-play goal to help Toronto beat New York.
Kubina’s screened slap shot from the right point got through cleanly and beat Islanders goalie Wade Dubielewicz for the Maple Leafs’ third win in their past four games.
Kyle Wellwood tied the game earlier in the period, and Vesa Toskala got the win by stopping 27 shots. Alexei Ponikarovsky added an empty-netter.
Rob Davison scored the only goal for the Islanders.
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