Pengs defeat Rangers, keep Jagr at 599 goals...

Originally Posted by espn.go.com

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Mark Recchi scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins shut down Jaromir Jagr and the New York Rangers in a 3-1 victory Saturday night.

Recchi's goals, which doubled his season total, were scored in the third period. Pittsburgh also got a goal from Jordan Staal and 23 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins' sound defensive play limited New York to 11 shots through the first two periods.

Pittsburgh was 1-4-2 in its previous seven games but beat New York for the second time this season. The other was a 6-5 road victory on Oct. 12.

The Penguins improved to 9-7-2 overall. They didn't record their ninth victory last season until Dec. 29, in their 36th game.

New York has lost three of four.

Jagr was held to two shots and appeared lethargic most of the evening while being booed with each touch of the puck. The former Penguins star is one goal away from becoming the 16th NHL player with 600.

He scored his first at the Igloo on Oct. 7, 1990, when he was a rookie with Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh was strong at the outset, registering 11 of the 15 shots in the first period. The Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 14:42 during a 5-on-3 advantage when Staal poked Evgeni Malkin's rebound past goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Malkin put the puck on net quickly after Sergei Gonchar's errant point shot ricocheted off the end boards.

It was the seventh goal for the rookie Staal, his first on the power play.

Jagr had the best chance during a scoreless second period. His wrist shot from the right dot caromed off Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi and floated toward the vacated net before bouncing off the top.

The Rangers were charged with the first three penalties of the third period, the last two created another two-man advantage and another goal for Pittsburgh.

Recchi redirected Gonchar's sharp pass into Lundqvist, who made the save. But Recchi backhanded the rebound through Lundqvist's pads for a 2-0 lead at 6:56.

Brendan Shanahan put New York on the board at 10:31 with a low shot from the right dot that sneaked through Fleury's legs.

But Recchi answered at 14:55, taking advantage of a 2-on-1 break by rapping Sidney Crosby's goalmouth feed behind Lundqvist to make it 3-1.

Game notes
Recchi needs 12 goals for 500. ... Pittsburgh promoted RW Ronald Petrovicky from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. He made his season debut after missing 18 games because of hip surgery. ... To make room for Petrovicky, LW John LeClair was a healthy scratch. He has one goal and five assists. ... The crowd of 16,737 was 300 shy of capacity. The Penguins have sold out only two of 10 home games.