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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Consider Mark Messier's slump to be over.
|  | | Petr Nedved was a menace to the Panthers all night, with two goals on six shots. |
Messier scored for the second straight game, and Petr Nedved added a pair of goals to lead the New York Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
Before scoring against Buffalo on Tuesday, Messier's last goal
came against St. Louis on Dec. 20 -- a span of 18 games.
"I put another one in," the 40-year-old Messier said. "I've
been feeling good. I'm injury-free, healthy and strong."
Michael York also scored for the Rangers, who won for only the second time in seven games.
"We played a really solid hockey game," Rangers coach Ron Low
said. "They did a good job tonight. The guys were outstanding."
Rob Niedermayer and Viktor Kozlov scored for Florida, which had its three-game home winning streak stopped. After the game, the Panthers announced they traded captain Scott Mellanby to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for junior right wing David Morisset and a
2002 draft choice. Mellanby did not play Friday night because he had the flu.
"He gave his heart and soul to this organization," Panthers
coach Duane Sutter said. "Because he has been such a good
individual with the organization all these years, we thought we'd
give him the opportunity to win a Stanley Cup."
Mike Richter stopped 24 of 26 shots for the Rangers.
"We've played some good games this year, but lost them and
didn't have anything to show for them," Richter said. "The
feeling we have right now is the one we should have every day."
The win kept the Rangers' hopes of making the playoffs alive,
although they went into the night 11 points behind Boston for
eighth place.
"The playoffs might not look too optimistic, but we still need the effort from everyone like we had tonight," Nedved said.
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead midway through the first on goals by York and Nedved.
York's goal came 36 seconds into the Rangers' first power-play
opportunity following a holding call against Florida's Robert Svehla.
Radek Dvorak's blast from the left wing bounced off the pad of
Florida goalie Roberto Luongo, and York was positioned for the rebound at 6:21.
Nedved scored following a mental lapse by Panthers defenseman
Lance Ward. New York's Tomas Kloucek flipped the puck along the
blue line toward Nedved. Ward turned the wrong way, giving Nedved a
clear path, and his wrist shot beat Luongo at 8:40.
Florida scored to make it 2-1 on Rob Niedermayer's goal with
1:27 left in the period. Pavel Bure skated in on the left side and shuffled the puck toward the net, and Niedermayer finished the play by beating Richter.
Messier's goal put the Rangers ahead 3-1 at 8:51 of the second period. Adam Graves' shot was deflected, Messier caught it just outside the crease, dropped it
and put it past Luongo.
Kozlov's power-play goal made it 3-2 with 1:07 remaining, but
Nedved added his empty-netter just nine seconds later to seal the
victory.
"Richter made some big saves when it was 2-1 and 3-1," Sutter said. "He made some big stops that gave them the momentum, and at the same time frustrated our guys."
Game notes
The Rangers are 7-15-3-1 since Dec. 9. ... New York was
without D Rich Pilon, who didn't accompany the team after being
knocked woozy in a collision with Buffalo's Vaclav Varada on
Tuesday. ... Florida's 13 wins are the fewest in the NHL. ...
Panthers D Mike Wilson, out since dislocating his shoulder and
breaking his arm Oct. 22, will wait at least another week before
rejoining the club.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
Panthers trade an original, send Mellanby to Blues
RECAPS
Atlanta 5
Boston 1
Philadelphia 5
NY Islanders 2
NY Rangers 4
Florida 2
Minnesota 2
Dallas 1
Calgary 5
Colorado 3
Phoenix 2
Edmonton 0
Washington 4
Anaheim 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Radek Dvorak puts the shot on net with Mike York there for the rare Rangers power-play goal.
avi: 1582 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Petr Nedved crosses the blue line and fires the puck past Roberto Luongo.
avi: 727 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Pavel Bure makes all the moves in traffic to get the puck on net for Rob Niedermayer's rebound and goal.
avi: 1609 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Viktor Kozlov cuts the Rangers' lead to one goal late in the third period, but it is not enough.
avi: 1108 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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