Pittsburgh 5, NY Rangers 2

123T
PIT(23-47-4)2305
NYR(27-40-8)0112

Final

7:30 PM ET, March 23, 2004
Madison Square Garden
New York, New York

Penguins hand Rangers seventh straight loss

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Game Information
Arena: Madison Square Garden
Location: New York, New York
Referees: EricFurlatt, WesMcCauley
Linesmen: JeanMorin, AnthonySericolo
Attendance: 17,902 (98.4% full)
Team Stat Comparison
 
190
Goals
206
303
Goals Against
250
65
Power Play Goals
46
84
Power Play Goals Allowed
80
7
Shorthanded Goals
6
15
Shorthanded Goals Allowed
8
1270
Penalty Minutes
1459
15
Average Penalty Minutes
18
Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD
7:32 Milan Kraft (power play)
Assist: Jon Sim, Richard Jackman
9:56 Rico Fata (power play)
Assist: Richard Jackman, Aleksey Morozov
2ND PERIOD
:32 Jaromir Jagr
Assist: Jamie Lundmark, Jan Hlavac
1:34 Lasse Pirjeta
Assist: Kelly Buchberger, Matt Bradley
6:34 Lasse Pirjeta
Assist: Tom Kostopoulos
14:42 Konstantin Koltsov
Assist: Lasse Pirjeta, Martin Strbak
3RD PERIOD
13:23 Thomas Pock
Assist: Jamie Lundmark

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jean-Sebastien Aubin doesn't want the season to end.

Aubin made 35 saves and Lasse Pirjeta had two goals and an assist as the Penguins beat the New York Rangers 5-2 Tuesday night for their eighth win in 10 games.

"It's been great the last three weeks," Aubin said. "We might have a lockout next year. Right now, we don't want to stop playing because it might be for a while. We're playing great right now, and we want to enjoy every game to the end."

Milan Kraft, Rico Fata and Konstantin Koltsov also scored for Pittsburgh.

Fata believes the Penguins have finally unleashed their potential.

"It was in us all year," Fata said. "We're winning with the same players basically that we had at the beginning of the season. Everyone stuck with it, even though we had some tough runs."

Jaromir Jagr and Thomas Pock, playing in his first NHL game, scored for New York, which dropped its seventh straight game.

Kraft and Fata scored first-period, power-play goals to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.

Kraft opened the scoring when Jonathan Sim, skating behind the Rangers' goal, fed the puck into the crease. Kraft jammed it past goalie Jamie McLennan.

Fata deflected in Ric Jackman's shot.

Jagr scored 32 seconds into the second period to cut the deficit to one as he knocked in the rebound of Jamie Lundmark's shot.

Pittsburgh, powered by Pirjeta, scored three straight goals to close out the period with a 5-1 lead.

Pirjeta restored the Penguins' two-goal advantage 1:02 after Jagr's goal, and he got the jump on the Rangers' defense to slip a backhander past McLennan for a 4-1 edge.

Pirjeta also set up Koltsov's goal.

In the third period, Pock beat Aubin with a slap shot from the blue line.

"When you're growing up, you dream about going to the NHL," Pock said. "When you score your first goal, you're so happy."

Game notes
The game concluded a home-and-home series that began Sunday with the Penguins' 4-3 win in overtime. ... Rangers captain Mark Messier served the first of his two-game suspension by the NHL for spearing Pittsburgh's Martin Strbak on Sunday. ... The Rangers signed free-agent defenseman Pock from the University of Massachusetts on Tuesday and put him right in the lineup. Pock, 22 and from Austria, is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award given annually to the nation's top collegiate player.

 

 

NHL Scores

Tuesday, March 23rd
Ottawa 2 Final
Boston 4
Philadelphia 4 Final
Carolina 2
Washington 0 Final
NY Islanders 3
Pittsburgh 5 Final
NY Rangers 2
Tampa Bay 7 Final
Toronto 2
New Jersey 4 Final
Florida 3 OT
Anaheim 4 Final
Nashville 1
Chicago 2 Final
Colorado 2 OT
Detroit 2 Final
San Jose 5