PITTSBURGH (AP) – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist each scored in the final 2:13 of the second period, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
Malkin added two assists and Phil Kessel scored into an empty net for the Penguins, who frustrated Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist midway through the second and chased him with a three-goal flurry at the end of the period.
Hornqvist has five goals in his last three games for Pittsburgh, which won for the 10th time in 12 home games and has a victory in four of six overall.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots for the Penguins and is one away from becoming the 20th goalie in NHL history to reach 350 wins.
Chris Kreider scored his 14th for the Rangers, whose three-game win streak ended. New York was unable to win for the sixth time in seven road games after a previous stretch that saw the Rangers win just four times in 18 games away from home.
Pittsburgh won just two of the previous 13 meetings (1-11-1) against the Rangers, who sought a fifth consecutive win against their division rivals. The Rangers were trying to win five straight against Pittsburgh for the third time in franchise history, and first since the 1973-74 season.
Lundqvist started each of the last 13 games against Pittsburgh and allowed just three goals on 119 shots during the previous four meetings. That included a 34-save effort last month for his fourth career shutout against the Penguins. He made 19 saves through two periods Thursday before Antti Raanta took over and stopped three shots in the third.
Crosby registered just six points in his previous 13 meetings against the Rangers, including two in nine home games. Malkin, who missed the last meeting against New York with a lower-body injury, was held without a goal for each of the previous six against the Rangers.
Lundqvist was whistled for delay of game during an odd second-period sequence in which he threw his own net off its moorings to get a stoppage in play. He was visibly upset following an early Penguins 2-on-1 rush and tossed his net into the end boards as Pittsburgh re-entered the zone seconds later, drawing the ire of the home fans. Pittsburgh was given a power play, but squandered the advantage after Kessel was called for slashing.
Kreider scored the game’s first goal with 3:10 left in the second period, but Crosby, Malkin and Hornqvist answered for Pittsburgh with three goals in 2:36.
