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NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Rangers slowed Jaromir Jagr down.
They just couldn't stop him.
The Pittsburgh star, who had four goals when the Rangers came to
Pittsburgh on Oct. 14, scored a goal and added an assist during a
three-goal first period as the Penguins beat the Rangers 4-1 Friday
night.
|  | | Mark Messier took the Rangers' frustrations out on the Penguins' Darius Kasparaitis. |
Five of Jagr's nine goals have come against the
Rangers. In 46 career games against New York, he has 21 goals and
59 points.
Jagr was about the last person the slumping Rangers needed to
see. New York has lost four games in a row and five of six. The
Rangers are 1-4-0 at Madison Square Garden, where they've lost
their last four games. The Rangers were booed off the ice at the
end of the first period after falling behind 3-0 for the second
straight home game.
Rookie goalie Johan Holmqvist, making his NHL debut, held off
the Penguins until 14:26 of the first period, when Jagr deked his
way past another rookie, defenseman Mike Mottau, before flipping a
backhander into the net, extending his goal-scoring streak to four
games.
"Jagr does that to people," Rangers coach Ron Low said.
Holmqvist, who found out he would be making his NHL debut about
three hours before game time when Kirk McLean couldn't play due to
back spasms, said he "was pretty nervous out there at the start.
When Jagr came at me, I thought I had the shot."
He didn't, and the Penguins were rolling.
Jagr did most of the work on the second goal, breaking into the
Rangers zone before making a behind-the-back pass to Martin Straka.
Holmqvist stopped Straka's first shot, but Straka lifted the
rebound into the net at 16:44 for his fourth of the season.
The Penguins made it 3-0 at 19:36, during a two-man power play,
when former Rangers player Alexei Kovalev snapped a shot from
between the circles past Holmqvist's glove for his fourth goal.
"It's the kind of game we like to play, up-tempo and not much
defense," Jagr said. "That's the way we played tonight. It was
easy for us ... we had the lead again."
The Rangers spent most of the first half of the second period
killing penalties, including a two-man disadvantage for a full 2:00
after Mark Messier got into a scrap with Pittsburgh defenseman
Darius Kasparaitis.
Messier received a triple minor while Kasparaitis was penalized
only two minutes. During the four-minute advantage, New York's Theo
Fleury was also penalized, but the Rangers, sparked by Holmqvist's
goaltending, kept the Penguins from adding to their lead.
"When you're down 3-0 and in a slump like we are, there's
nowhere to turn," said Messier, the Rangers captain. "You can't
say you'll wait for things to happen."
The Rangers, shut out Thursday night at Philadelphia, appeared
energized by the penalty kills and finally ended their scoreless
streak 2:26 into the third period when Messier tallied his fourth
of the season. He picked up the rebound of Fleury's errant point
shot off the end boards and snapped the puck over Jean-Sebastien
Aubin's glove and under the crossbar. It was the 631st goal of his
career.
Jan Hrdina scored on a rebound with 1:06 left to make it 4-1.
The Rangers' struggles, especially early in the game, left Low
shaking his head.
"I don't understand it at all," he said. "I'm absolutely
baffled. Everybody's upbeat in the dressing room and playing well,
and then they score a goal and it's like we're very fragile. It
seems that it takes forever to regroup again."
Game notes
Messier played in his 1,488th NHL game, moving him past
longtime teammate Wayne Gretzky into sixth place on the career
games-played list. ... Jean-Francois Labbe backed up Holmqvist, as
the Rangers opted not to dress Mike Richter, who's returning from
off-season knee surgery and gave up three goals in Philadelphia.
... Pittsburgh had scored only four first-period goals before
getting three against the Rangers in a 5:10 span. The Penguins have
outscored opponents 16-6 in the third period.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Chat wrap: Barry Melrose on NHL Rules!
RECAPS
Buffalo 2
Toronto 1
New Jersey 3
Carolina 3
Columbus 3
Washington 1
NY Islanders 2
Montreal 1
Ottawa 6
Tampa Bay 0
Minnesota 3
Calgary 1
Florida 3
Nashville 3
Pittsburgh 4
NY Rangers 1
Phoenix 4
Dallas 2
Atlanta 1
Vancouver 1
Anaheim 3
Edmonton 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jaromir Jagr schools the Ranger defense with this goal.
avi: 952 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
With the Rangers down 3-0, Mark Messier drops the gloves with Darius Kasparaitis.
avi: 1673 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jaromir Jagr takes it to the Ranger defense again, this time setting up Martin Straka.
avi: 1150 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mark Messier smacks the rebound past Pittsburgh goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin.
avi
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Jaromir Jagr was pleased to see the Penguins' defense step it up.
wav: 161 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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