NEW YORK — 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.
OILERS 8, COYOTES 4: At Edmonton, Curtis Glencross scored two third-period goals and Edmonton continued its push for a playoff spot, winning its third in a row with an 8-4 victory over Phoenix.
BLUES 4, CANADIENS 3, SO: At Montreal, 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.
FLYERS 3, THRASHERS 2: At Philadelphia, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Vaclav Prospal scored goals and Philadelphia kept its hold on the eighth playoff spot.
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.
BLUE JACKETS 3, FLAMES 0: At Columbus, 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.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, ISLANDERS 1: At Uniondale, N.Y., 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.
CAPITALS 4, PREDATORS 2: At Nashville, Alexander Ovechkin had a goal and two assists to lead the Capitals over the Predators. Ovechkin's 58th goal was an empty-netter and Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Bradley added first-period goals for Washington.
SHARKS 2, KINGS 1: At Los Angeles, Brian Boucher stopped 29 shots for his second victory in two starts with San Jose, who got goals from Joe Thornton and Patrick Rismiller in a victory over Los Angeles.