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Straka scores in overtime as Rangers get by Penguins

Nov 26, 2006 - 3:35 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Martin Straka and Jaromir Jagr needed virtually every available second to spoil the night for their former team.

Straka scored with three seconds left in overtime and Jagr netted his 12th goal of the season as the New York Rangers won for the eighth time in 12 games with a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 34-year-old Straka, who set a career high with 35 goals for Pittsburgh in 1998-99, netted his 11th of the season when he beat netminder Marc-Andre Fleury inside the left goalpost. The tally enabled New York to beat Pittsburgh for the first time in three meetings this season.

"It was awesome," Straka said of Michal Rozsival's setup pass. "He looked everybody off. Everybody thought he was going to shoot. Even Fleury came over a little bit and didn't think he was going to give it to me. It was an easy goal for me. Put the stick on the ice and put it in."

"It's tough," Penguins rookie center Jordan Staal said. "OT is always a give and take but next time, we've got to bury our opportunities and we will win the game."

Staal had a terrific opportunity to win the game for the Penguins when he was hooked by defenseman Fedor Tyutin, resulting in a penalty shot with 1:20 left in overtime. However, the rookie was unable to get a shot off at the right post on his penalty shot.

"I was thinking shoot and when I went in there, I didn't really see an opening," Staal said. "So I tried a little move and beat myself."

"I was a little lucky there," New York netminder Henrik Lundqvist said. "He almost had me, and I reached with my pad and got it on the toe, I think. And I hit the post twice. I had some luck. You need that, too, if you're going to win games like this."

Jagr, who tallied twice against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, tied the score with 7:45 remaining in the third period when he flipped the puck past Fleury's right pad for his 603rd career goal.

"Fleury was playing really well," Jagr said. "We just had some tough bounces, too. I was believing that the game was going to turn around, that our luck was gong to turn around."

Penguins rookie sensation Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring midway through he second period on a power play with a one-timer of Erik Christensen's centering feed from behind the net that deflected off goaltender Henrik Lundqvist's shoulder.

After opening his career with seven goals in his first six games, the 20-year-old Malkin has responded from a relative slump with tallies in each of his last three contests. The Russian leads all rookies in goals (12), points (22) and power-play tallies (five).

Lundqvist made 28 saves and raised his record to 11-7-0 for the Rangers, who have won five of six overtime contests.

"I wasn't particularly thrilled with the first two periods," New York coach Tom Renney said. "We needed an extraordinary effort in the third period, not just to tie it but to win it and we got that. It was just one of those games where it certainly could have swung either way."

Fleury stopped 28 shots and fell to 10-6-2 for Pittsburgh, which lost for just the third time in 11 meetings against Atlantic Division opponents.

"You have a lot of offense, but you also have great goalies facing each other," Jagr said. "It doesn't matter how many rules they are going to change. The goalies are tough to beat and they are very good."