Pens snap winless streak with 3-1 victory over Rangers (26-Mar-2003)
The Penguins play the role of spoilers as they defeat the Rangers 3-1 and put a serious dent in New York's playoff hopes. The Pens got two power play goals in the first period. Martin Straka tipped in a Dan Focht shot at 7:18 and Tomas Surovy grabbed a loose puck out front and beat Dan Blackburn with 12 seconds to go in the first. Eric Meloche picked up an unassisted goal at 1:53 of the third before Brian Leetch tipped home the lone New York goal at 8:14. Sebastien Caron stopped 33 of 34 shots and was named the game's number one star. Pittsburgh played without owner/captain Mario Lemieux who sat out with back spasms.
Scoring
1st
2nd
3rd
-
T
Penguins
2
0
1
-
3
Rangers
0
0
1
-
1
Shots on goal
1st
2nd
3rd
-
T
Penguins
7
8
8
-
23
Rangers
13
10
6
5
34
Power Plays
1st
2nd
3rd
-
T
Penguins
2-2
0-0
0-0
-
2-2
Rangers
0-1
0-1
0-0
-
0-2
Goaltender: Sebastien Caron
Captain: Mario Lemieux
Alternate captains: Martin Straka
1st Period Scoring: Pittsburgh, Martin Straka 18 (power play) (Dan Focht, Brian Holzinger), 7:18; Pittsburgh, Tomas Surovy 4 (power play) (Brian Holzinger, Michal Rozsival), 19:48.
1st Period Penalties: B Holik, NYR (cross checking), 5:45; D Tarnstrom, Pit (interference), 15:55; Bench, NYR (too many men served by J Lundmark), 19:28.
Shots after one period were 9-7 in favor of New York.
2nd Period Scoring: None.
2nd Period Penalties: K Manderville, Pit (high sticking), 3:17.
Shots after two were 22-15 in favor of New York.
3rd Period Scoring: Pittsburgh, Eric Meloche 3 (Unassisted), 1:53; NY Rangers, Brian Leetch 10 (Ted Donato, Dan Lacouture), 8:14.
3rd Period Penalties: None.
Three Stars of the Game:
Sebastien Caron (33 saves, Save Pct: .971)
Brian Holzinger (2a)
Brian Leetch, NY (1g)
Goalies: Pittsburgh, Sebastien Caron (34 shots, 33 saves; record: 6-13-2).
NY Rangers, Dan Blackburn (23 shots, 20 saves; record: 8-15-4).
Attendance: 18,200, a sellout, at Madison Square Garden.
Scratches: Josef Melichar (shoulder - IR), Aleksey Morozov (wrist - IR), Joel Bouchard (jaw - IR), Matt Bradley (wrist - IR), Ramzi Abid (knee), and Mario Lemieux (back).
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