Vinny Prospal broke out of a 14-game scoring drought with two goals, and the New York Rangers stretched their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 victory against the Florida Panthers last night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Rangers, who earned three consecutive road wins before returning home, picked up their first victory at MSG since Nov. 23 by snapping an 0-4-1 skid there. Captain Chris Drury wiped out the Panthers' early 1-0 lead and then assisted when Marian Gaborik scored his NHL-leading 26th goal on a short-handed breakaway in the third period to make it 4-1 during a delayed penalty.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 33 shots while making his 11th consecutive start. He was briefly shaken up when Florida's Keith Ballard struck him in the head with his left knee. Ballard became well-known when he accidentally hit Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun in the ear with his stick as he attempted to smack it against the post in anger after a goal was scored by Atlanta Nov. 30.

The Rangers are on their best streak since winning seven in a row after an opening-night loss. They were 0-3-2 before this run.

• Bruins 6, Thrashers 4: Marc Savard, Daniel Paille and Vladimir Sobotka scored in a 1:08 span of the first, Savard added two assists and host Boston held on for a victory against Atlanta.

• Blackhawks 3, Red Wings 0: Antti Niemi made 33 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and his career, and Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist to lift visiting Chicago past Detroit.

• Flyers 5, Lightning 2: Blair Betts and Mike Richards each scored two goals as visiting Philadelphia defeated Tampa Bay.

• Canadiens 5, Hurricanes 1: Glen Metropolit scored two power-play goals after Andrei Markov had his third in three games, and visiting Montreal routed Carolina for its third consecutive victory.

• Capitals 5, Sabres 2: Nicklas Backstrom had two goals, Alex Ovechkin added a goal and two assists and host Washington beat Buffalo in a battle of division leaders.

• Wild 3, Oilers 1: Nicklas Backstrom continued his mastery of Edmonton, stopping 30 shots in host Minnesota's victory.

• Islanders 3, Maple Leafs 1: Trent Hunter and John Tavares scored 90 seconds apart in the second, and Dwayne Roloson made 26 saves in host New York's victory against Toronto.

• Devils defenseman Paul Martin will be out another month after having a setback in his recovery from a broken left forearm. Martin's arm was broken Oct. 24 when he was hit by a shot from the Penguins' Bill Guerin.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.