Staal, Fleury spur Penguins

Rangers go home, trailing series, 2-0

Defenseman Hal Gill (left) gives a big hug to Penguins mate Adam Hall, who secured the win with an empty-netter. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)

Jordan Staal's power-play goal in the second period broke a scoreless tie and Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made the lead stand up, giving the Penguins a 2-0 victory over New York Rangers yesterday and a home-ice sweep of the first two games of their second-round playoff series.

Staal's goal came with older brother Marc, a Rangers defenseman on the ice, and was all the offensive support Fleury needed while making 26 saves. Fleury helped the Penguins kill off two key Rangers power plays in the final six minutes plus before Adam Hall scored into an empty net with 16.7 seconds remaining.

Game 3 is tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden, where Pittsburgh is 0-3-1 this season.

Staal's power-play goal at 13:55 of the second came with the Rangers' best penalty killer, Chris Drury, off for hooking. Evgeni Malkin gathered the puck in the left circle and, shedding Marc Staal, fed it down low to Jordan Staal, who shifted from his backhand to his forehand to lift the puck over goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

"He's a great passer," Jordan Staal said. "I'm just glad to be the finisher."

Did he realize who Malkin beat to get him the puck?

"Not really," Staal said. "It's all pretty much a blur out there."

Staal's winner no doubt delighted parents Linda and Henry Staal on their sod farm in Thunder Bay, Ontario, but also disappointed them. The Staals's parents decided not to attend the series because they knew one son would be disappointed when it ended.

Lundqvist, a Vezina Trophy finalist, played a superlative game with 30 saves, several times making multiple stops with traffic in front of him and the Penguins pressing to take a lead they knew would put further pressure on the Rangers. New York now must sweep the two games at home to regain a tie in the series between Atlantic Division rivals.

"We just have to go back home and still feel confident, we know we can beat this team," Lundqvist said. "We have to go back home and get two wins there and come back here."

Sidney Crosby didn't score but again occupied the Rangers' attention at both ends of the ice, sometimes in a distracting way. Crosby drew the penalty that led to Malkin's deflected game-winning goal during Pittsburgh's 5-4 victory in Game 1 on Friday, causing some of the Rangers to accuse him of diving to set up the power play.

When Crosby went down again in the first period to draw another penalty, Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr - the former Penguins star - could be seen yelling at Crosby, "Stand up!"

Asked what he said to Crosby, Jagr said, "Just play hockey, that's all."

Stars 5, Sharks 2 - Mike Modano scored the tiebreaking goal early Dallas's four-goal third period, and Marty Turco made 29 saves to beat host San Jose and head home with a commanding 2-0 lead in their second-round series.

Brad Richards scored the tying goal on an awful San Jose turnover in the opening minute of the third period, and Niklas Hagman added two insurance goals in the Stars' eighth victory in their last nine trips to San Jose. Mike Ribeiro also scored an early goal before Dallas put a tremendous finish on another profitable night at the Shark Tank.

Dallas hasn't reached the conference finals since 2000, when the Stars beat San Jose in the second round.