Lindros leaves in third, Pens win in OT

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Game Information

Arena: Mellon Arena Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Referees: PaulDevorski, PaulStewart Linesmen: MarkPare, RayScapinello

Attendance: 16,958 (100.0% full)

Team Stat Comparison
227	Goals	198
258	Goals Against	249
48	Power Play Goals	47
80	Power Play Goals Allowed	57
8	Shorthanded Goals	5
5	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	10
1753	Penalty Minutes	1248
21	Average Penalty Minutes	15

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD			NYR	PIT
18:03		Milan Kraft (Power Play) Assists: Aleksey Morozov, Kris Beech	0	1
2ND PERIOD			NYR	PIT
No scoring this period			0	1
3RD PERIOD			NYR	PIT
No scoring this period			0	1
OT			NYR	PIT
No scoring this period			0	1

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- With both teams scrapping for every possible point, the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers each came away happy.

Jan Hrdina scored 37 seconds into overtime, lifting the Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the slumping Rangers.

"I'm kind of lucky right now," Hrdina said. "The puck goes in for me. Sometimes it doesn't. Right now, it goes in."

New York's Sandy McCarthy forced overtime by scoring with 1:51 left in the third period. McCarthy put in a rebound after a scramble in front of the Pittsburgh net.

"It's a huge point for our club," Rangers coach Ron Low said.

The Rangers have dropped six of eight and lost a point to the Penguins in the race for the Eastern Conference playoffs. Pittsburgh in 11th place trails New York, which is tied for seventh, by four points.

The Rangers played most of the third period without Eric Lindros, who bruised a foot while blocking a shot. Lindros played just two shifts in the period before leaving.

The winning goal came after a New York turnover in the offensive zone.

Alexei Kovalev picked Theo Fleury's pass off the boards and carried the puck down the ice. He spotted Hrdina going to net and fed him a pass, which Hrdina chipped past Richter for his 20th goal and sixth game-winner. Hrdina has goals in five consecutive games.

Goalie Mike Richter got tagged with the loss but was also focused on the point the Rangers got.

"We were trailing the entire game and tied it up with two minutes to go and that shows something," Richter said. "Looking at 58 minutes with no points, then getting at least one in the last two minutes, it's better than nothing."

McCarthy, an instigator, had to control his emotions in order to help the Rangers get their point with his late goal.

"A couple of guys tried to take runs at me on that shift," McCarthy said. "It felt good to stick it to them. You can't really take liberties at that point in the game so you try to do it some other way. I got up, jumped out in front of the net and the puck was right there."

One day after Low called for his team to play a more physical game, the Rangers gave the Penguins six power-play chances.

Minus injured offensive stars Mario Lemieux, Martin Straka and Robert Lang, the Penguins got production from players who usually don't get much power-play time.

Milan Kraft, who had not scored since Jan. 15, ended his drought at 14 games at 18:03 of the first period. He put in a shot from the slot for his seventh of the season. Richter said the shot hit a Rangers defenseman's stick and changed direction.

Andreas Johansson tied it for New York at 4:59 of the second. Two strides inside the blue line, he overpowered Johan Hedberg with a slap shot for his 14th goal.

Kris Beech broke the tie at 10:51 with his second goal in 13 games. Left unchallenged at the right circle, Beech fired a shot past Richter's glove.

Game notes
The Rangers took just three shots in the first period, the third consecutive game in which they had fewer than five in the opening period. ... McCarthy hadn't scored in 12 games. ... Penguins GM Craig Patrick said he doesn't plan to trade D Darius Kasparaitis or Lang, both of whom can become unrestricted free agents after the season.