Fleury solid as Pens pull even

Goaltender racks up seventh career post-season shutout in win over listless Rangers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PITTSBURGH— With their captain under fire and their season on the brink of collapse, the Pittsburgh Penguins responded with a show of force.

Of course, having the New York Rangers look like a team only too happy to go home with a split helped.

Kris Letang broke a scoreless tie in the second period, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for his franchise-record seventh playoff shutout to lift the Penguins to a 3-0 victory on Sunday night, tying the second- round series at one game apiece.

Letang’s 15th career post-season goal matched Larry Murphy’s record for Penguins defencemen. Jussi Jokinen scored during a third-period power play, and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who pushed around the suddenly weary Rangers.

“I thought to a man our players were extremely good all night,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. “It was a huge win for us.”

Game 3 is Monday night in New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for New York, but the Rangers mustered little offence while playing their fourth game in six days. Not that coach Alain Vigneault wanted to blame fatigue for a listless effort. “Did my goaltender look tired? He was on top of his game,” Vigneault said. “If he’s not tired, nobody else should be.” The Rangers have lost eight straight Game 2s and have dropped 13 consecutive games when leading in a series. They had their chances to jump ahead early, only to be let down again by an anemic power play. The Rangers finished 0 for 4 with the man advantage and haven’t scored the last 29 times they’ve had an extra skater on the ice.