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Jagr, power-play goals help Rangers crush Maple Leafs

Dec 30, 2007 - 5:07 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Captain Jaromir Jagr and the New York Rangers used the power play to turn this one into a laugher.

Jagr scored a goal and helped on three others as the Rangers destroyed the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1, on Saturday.

Petr Prucha scored twice, Martin Straka had a goal and an assist and Blair Betts and Brendan Shanahan tallied as well for the Rangers, who reeled off five straight power-play scores while watching the Maples Leafs commit 11 penalties.

The power-play tallies were the most by the franchise since it also scored five against the Washington Capitals on March 9, 1996.

"Today our power play won the game for us," Jagr said. "It's all about confidence. We started scoring and we had man-advantages on them and were able to keep it going. It feels good to be able to help the team tonight."

New York opened the scoring on an even-strength goal by Betts when his wraparound behind the net went off the pad of goaltender Andrew Raycroft with 6:31 left in the first period.

"When Betts got that first goal for us, it was a tough night for the Leafs after that," Shanahan said. "For whatever reason when you come off a long road trip, it's tough to get behind the eight ball. We did a good job of jumping on them early, taking advantage of that. They got in some penalty problems and our power play, which has been much improved in the last seven or eight games made them pay."

With a man-advantage, Jagr scored next when defenseman Michal Rozsival blasted a shot from the slot that bounced back to him. The New York captain wristed a shot past Raycroft, who was caught out of position.

The Rangers made the game a laugher in the second period when they scored on a power play by Prucha at the 3:58 mark, and two-man advantages by Shanahan at 7:54, and Straka with 9:29 left in the session. The beleaguered Raycroft was lifted in favor of Scott Clemmensen after allowing five goals on 29 attempts.

"Playing against a skilled power-play team like New York with all of the talent they have offensively, you can't spend a whole period in the box," Maple Leafs center Alexander Steen said. "You have to give Raycroft a chance - and we didn't do that."

Shanahan's goal was the 640th of his career, tying him with Dave Andreychuk for 11th all-time in NHL history.

"It feels good," Shanahan said. "It's nice to do it in Toronto and I just want to keep scoring them."

Jagr set up the last two tallies giving the 35-year-old 930 assists, which passes Larry Murphy for 13th on the all-time list.

"Obviously everyone knows what a great player he (Jagr) is," Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky said. "When you have him out there, he draws a lot of guys to himself which gives someone like me more room when I get the puck - and I was able to make some plays."

Prucha scored New York's fifth power-play goal to make it 6-0 when he received a pass through the crease from Dubinsky that he knocked past Clemmensen just 69 seconds in the final period. It was the third assist of the game for Dubinsky and the seventh time in Prucha's career he has had two tallies in a contest.

Stephen Valiquette allowed a goal to Toronto's Darcy Tucker at the 8:20 mark of the third to spoil a shutout, but stopped 27 shots for his second victory of the season.