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Big third period leads Rangers over Penguins

Dec 16, 2010 - 5:18 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Erik Christensen and Alex Frolov scored 15 seconds apart in the third period to help the New York Rangers take a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots to give the Rangers a win for the fifth time in their past seven games. Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle each added a goal.

However, New York suffered a loss in the game as winger Ryan Callahan broke his left hand in the first period blocking a shot.

"I'll say it once; it's a huge injury but we have to move by it. Someone else has to step up," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella of the team responding to the loss of Callahan.

The Penguins came into the game on the heels of a 3-2 loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday, which snapped the team's 12-game winning streak. It's the first time Pittsburgh has suffered consecutive losses since dropping games to Dallas and Anaheim on November 3-5.

However, Sidney Crosby assisted on Evgeni Malkin's goal to extend his streak to a career-high 20 games. He has totaled 20 goals and 19 assists during the run.

Brent Johnson was charged with all four goals on 22 shots in the loss.

With Pittsburgh holding a one-goal lead, the Rangers tied the game on the power play as Christensen's shot from the left circle on the fly beat Johnson just under the crossbar at the 10:10 mark.

Moments later, Dan Girardi threw a shot on net from the right point that never made it on net. However, it caromed off a body in front and Frolov was able to backhand in his second attempt for a 2-1 lead.

Pittsburgh appeared to tie the game with just over six minutes to play when Malkin blasted a shot from the right circle that found its way past Lundqvist. However, it was waived off by an official as Pascal Dupuis was ruled to have incidental contact with Lundqvist, keeping the goaltender from attempting to make a play on the shot.

Anisimov made it a two-goal game with 5:05 to play as he danced through the neutral zone and from the left slot he snapped a shot over the glove of Johnson.

Boyle scored with 3:31 to play to cap the scoring in the contest.

"There's no excuses. You can't give up four goals in the third period," Johnson said.

The Penguins struck late in the first period to take the lead. Malkin received the puck from Brooks Orpik and skated into the New York zone down the left wing. He dropped the puck back to Crosby, who faked the shot before dishing it back to Malkin, who cut in front of the net and went backhand to forehand to guide the puck in with 12.4 seconds left.

Johnson stopped six shots in the first period and made another six saves in the second to keep the Rangers off the board. Lundqvist made seven saves in the middle period to keep it a one-goal game.

Game Notes

Crosby joins Dany Heatley and Paul Stastny as the only players with point streaks of at least 20 games since the start of the 2000-01 season...Pittsburgh has off until next Monday when it will host Phoenix...The Rangers return home to face Phoenix on Thursday...The Rangers have taken two of three games from Pittsburgh this season. The road team has won all three games...Rangers center Chris Drury returned to play for the first time since suffering a broken index finger on his left hand on October 15.