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Jagr leads the way as Rangers post wild win over Flyers

Apr 1, 2007 - 4:07 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- After scoring at will early, the New York Rangers ultimately needed every goal they got.

Captain Jaromir Jagr scored two goals and set up another and Michael Nylander added three assists as the Rangers opened a big lead before holding on for a 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, who have lost six of seven games.

Martin Straka, Petr Prucha and defenseman Thomas Pock each had a goal and an assist and Ryan Callahan also tallied for New York (40-29-9), which maintained its one-point lead over Montreal (41-32-6) for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

"We knew we had to win this game to stay in the hunt for the playoffs," Jagr said. "When you have a two-goal lead, you are thinking, 'Let's play smart and play for tomorrow.' Sometimes it doesn't always work that way."

Pock opened the scoring 3 1/2 minutes into the contest, taking a feed from Jagr and rifling a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past goaltender Martin Biron. It was his third goal in the four games.

"Thomas is really coming along as a defenseman at this level," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "Pock is a young guy who can shoot well and pass well. He is really playing with confidence."

Flyers tough guy Ben Eager scored 24 seconds later to tie the game, but Callahan banged in a rebound from the doorstep to restore the Rangers' lead.

"I thought we played a good game," Eager said. "We just had a couple of breakdowns that cost us."

Jagr doubled the advantage with eight minutes to go in the first with a wrist shot that beat Biron to the stick side.

After Eager completed his second career multi-goal effort four minutes into the second, Jagr answered 2:15 later, capping his fourth two-tally performance of the campaign.

"I was pretty happy with that shot on the second goal," Jagr said. "I was hoping it would go in. I was missing some confidence, even though I had a lot of shots."

"I though Jaromir was great," Renney said. "He played hard and I thought he did everything he could to lead his team. He was a real force tonight. Without him, we don't win."

Straka scored a minute later and Prucha netted a power-play goal with 50 seconds left in the period, giving the Rangers a 6-3 cushion.

Rookie Ryan Potulny made things interesting with his sixth of the season 1:59 into the third, but Philadelphia was unable to get any closer against Henrik Lundqvist, who rebounded from a poor performance against Montreal on Tuesday by making 33 saves.

"We are going out there to win games right now," Lundqvist said. "We wanted to stay in there and get the two points. We are where we want to be."

Biron allowed five goals on 22 shots before being replaced by Antero Niittymaki, who turned aside 11 of the 12 shots he faced.

"When trying to review the goals in my mind, I think there were a few Biron had no chance on," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "The one shot Jagr made. ... He has 600 goals for a reason."