NEW YORK – Marian Gaborik scored on an odd-man rush and into an empty net in the third period and Derek Stepan had a goal and an assist to help the New York Rangers beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 Sunday night.
Martin Biron stopped 23 shots for his first shutout in more than two years, improving to 3-0 in his fourth appearance of the season.
The Rangers won their fourth straight despite another inefficient performance by the power play. The Jets still are 3-2-1 on a seven-game road trip.
A night after they only scored on a two-man advantage in nine power plays, the Rangers came up empty in more than 90 seconds of two-man advantage.
For Gaborik's second goal, he backhanded the puck up and over Zach Bogosian from the blue line into the empty net.
Stepan's goal came on the Rangers' second power play of the night. With Andrew Ladd off for high-sticking, Stepan buried a chance at 10:01 of the second period. Gaborik and Michael Del Zotto assisted.
Stepan leads the Rangers with four points on the power play, after an assist on Saturday night against Montreal and Sunday's goal.
Ondrej Pavelec made 24 saves and kept the Jets in the game for most of it, including when he made nearly identical saves to thwart Erik Christensen on the doorstep during the long 5-on-3.
He was outplayed by Biron, who had to make few spectacular plays, but kept the puck out during a long first-period scrum in the crease during which the puck wasn't blown dead for several long seconds.
For most of the night, the game was a low-energy affair between two teams that played the night before.
The Rangers managed to redeem a six-game homestand at the recently renovated Madison Square Garden that began with losses to Toronto and Ottawa before they knocked off San Jose to get things rolling.
Gaborik finished the homestand with three goals and six assists in six games.
Notes: Former Rangers captain Mark Messier was shown waving from a box hours after he finished the New York City Marathon in 4 hours, 14 minutes, 21 seconds Sunday. ... Winnipeg has one game left on its road trip, but finished up a visit to all three New York City-area teams. The Jets lost to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night after beating the Islanders on Thursday night. The Jets' next stop is the third team in New York State — the Buffalo Sabres. ... Rangers F Sean Avery, whose name was chanted by fans ever since he rejoined the team earlier in the week, saw limited action on the fourth line. ... The Jets fell to 0-2 vs. the Rangers this season.
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