NEW YORK (AP) – Petr Prucha scored two power-play goals, including the tiebreaker with 8:29 remaining, and the New York Rangers got back on the winning track with a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Monday night.

Prucha jumped on a rebound of Martin Straka’s shot and chipped it over sprawled-out goalie Dwayne Roloson for his ninth goal. Prucha also gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the first period.

Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves to improve to 8-1-1 at home, two nights after allowing five goals on 21 shots in a loss at Washington that snapped New York’s six-game winning streak. Martin Straka scored an empty-net goal with 19 seconds left for the Rangers, who held a 19-4 shots advantage in the third period.

New York has won five straight at home.

Pascal Dupuis scored late in the second period for the Wild, who entered with the NHL’s best penalty-killing unit. Minnesota allowed more than one power-play goal in a game for only the third time this season.

The Wild are 0-2-1 on their five-game trip.

The first period was very un-Wild like as the Rangers grabbed the lead with a power-play goal on a shot Roloson should’ve kept out of the net.

Jaromir Jagr worked a two-man game with Prucha and let a shot go from the right circle that Roloson appeared to gobble up in his midsection. But before he could secure the puck, it dropped into the crook of his right arm and fell into the crease. Prucha swooped in and knocked it in before Roloson could cover.

New York converted on its first man advantage, snapping a streak of 12 straight penalty kills by the Wild. Minnesota, 4-for-6 while short-handed, entered with a 89.5 percent kill rate.

The soft goal was also rare for Roloson, who came in with the league’s fourth-best save percentage. He and partner Manny Fernandez, who alternate games, are the NHL’s best goaltending duo. Fernandez’s .931 save percentage leads the league.

Roloson, who made 44 saves in his last start on Thursday – a 2-1 loss at Nashville – seemed to fight the puck all night.

Minnesota came out of its defensive shell late in the second period and put lots of pressure on Lundqvist in the final minute. After nearly putting a shot in, the Wild finally got on the board with 27.6 seconds remaining.

With Roloson out of the Wild net during a delayed penalty call, Dupuis redirected a shot by Alexandre Daigle off the crossbar and behind Lundqvist to tie it at 1 with his third goal.

Notes: Former Rangers captain Mark Messier, who retired before the season, received a rousing ovation when he was introduced on the ice as an assistant coach of the Pee Wee Rangers, who will compete in a tournament in Quebec. Messier’s jersey will be raised to the rafters on Jan. 12. … Wild C Mikko Koivu, who played 11 straight games after missing the first 14 because of injury, was a healthy scratch. … Minnesota was 0-for-5 on the power play. … New York played its first interconference game. Minnesota played its second, after falling at New Jersey in a shootout Saturday.

AP-ES-12-05-05 2139EST


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