Lundqvist, Callahan again lead Rangers

BACK-TO-BACK, day game after day game, away or home. No matter what the obstacle, none seems to pose a threat to the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers.

Less than 24 hours after dispatching the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center, Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers hosted the Washington Capitals and skated off with a grinding, 3-2 victory yesterday.

"We talked about not having any excuses going into this game, even though it was less than 20 hours from the last game," said Lundqvist, who made 24 saves after stopping 31 Flyers' shots in Saturday's 5-2 win. "We tried to set the tone right away. To get the first goal was big for us."

That one was scored by captain Ryan Callahan, who has provided the bulk of the offense in the Rangers' three-game winning streak. Callahan scored against Tampa Bay on Thursday and notched his second career hat trick Saturday.

Ryan McDonagh gave New York a 2-1 lead with 6 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second period, and Brandon Prust broke a 48-game goal drought with a short-handed tally in the third.

The Rangers (36-13-5) have won four of five, and six of eight (6-1-1). They are 19-5-1 in their past 25 games, heading into a showdown with the Stanley Cup champion Bruins tomorrow at Boston.

"It's been an intense 24 hours here with two tough games," Lundqvist said. "It's been a great week for us, and we should feel good about ourselves and go into Boston and get ready for that one."

In other games * 

At Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin scored his 31st and 32nd goals as the Penguins rallied past the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2. Chris Kunitz and Kris Letang each added a goal and two assists for the Penguins, who have won six straight at home.

* At Uniondale, N.Y., Kris Versteeg, Tomas Fleischmann, Tyson Strachan and Jack Skille scored the goals that lifted the Florida Panthers to a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders.

* At Dallas, Jordan Nolan and Dwight King each scored their first career goal and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Stars, 4-2.

* At St. Louis, Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak earned his sixth shutout in just 10 starts, a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

* At Columbus, Corey Perry scored three goals for his fifth career hat trick, and second against Columbus this season, to lead the Anaheim Ducks past the Blue Jackets, 5-3. The Ducks' Teemu Selanne picked up an assist to tie Brett Hull for 21st on the NHL's career list with 1,391 points.