ATLANTA – Sean Avery ricocheted a fluke goal off the boards from center ice and Brendan Shanahan scored the winner with 4:01 remaining Saturday, lifting the New York Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers and a commanding two-nothing lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.

Shanahan’s 54th career playoff goal came after Ilya Kovalchuk tied the game at 1 for the Thrashers with 14:25 remaining. The series now moves to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Tuesday night. The next two games are in New York, giving the Rangers a chance to clinch the series without coming back to Atlanta.

Penguins 4, Senators 3

OTTAWA – Sidney Crosby scored his second goal in two career playoff games 11:44 into the third period to lift Pittsburgh over Ottawa, evening the first-round Eastern Conference series at one win apiece.

Crosby, who scored a late power-play goal in Wednesday’s series-opening 6-3 loss, scored Pittsburgh’s third goal of the third period at 11:44. The Penguins tied it twice in the final frame before the 19-year-old NHL scoring champion gave them their second and final lead.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Mike Fisher’s shot from the slot with 13.1 seconds remaining to seal the win. Fleury, who left after allowing all six goals Wednesday, made 34 saves as Ottawa outshot Pittsburgh 37-21 overall, including 20-5 in the second period.

Gary Roberts and Jordan Staal scored tying goals earlier in the period and Crosby assisted on Ryan Whitney’s power-play goal early in the first.

Lightning 3, Devils 2

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – Vincent Lecavalier scored early in the third period to break a tie, and Johan Holmqvist made 34 saves to lead Tampa Bay over New Jersey and square the first-round, Eastern Conference playoff series at 1-all.

Martin St. Louis and Filip Kuba also scored for the Lightning, who will host the next two games of the best-of-seven matchup, starting Monday.

Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner scored for the Devils, who squandered a 2-1 lead late in the second period.

Islanders 3, Sabres 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Rick DiPietro bounced back from a pair of concussions to stop 32 shots in his first game in three weeks, and Marc-Andre Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal 8 minutes into the third period to lead the New York Islanders over top-seeded Buffalo.

Trent Hunter and Bruno Gervais also scored, helping New York tie the best-of-seven, first-round series.

Defensemen Toni Lydman and Dmitri Kalinin scored for the Sabres, who finished the regular season with a league-leading 53 wins and 308 goals.

The Islanders seemed to be hanging on before Bergeron scored a power-play goal with 11:23 left – and six minutes after Kalinin tied the game during a scramble in front.