Rangers 6, Stars 3
NEW YORK -- Center Derek Stepan scored twice to help the New York Rangers to an easy 6-3 victory against the league-leading Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
Center Derick Brassard, left winger Viktor Stalberg, right winger Jayson Megna and defenseman Keith Yandle also scored for the Rangers, who are 3-2-0 in their past five games after a 3-9-2 stretch.
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves.
Defenseman John Klingberg and wingers Antoine Roussel and Valeri Nichushkin scored for the Stars
Goaltender Antti Niemi allowed six goals on 29 shots.
The Stars have lost three in a row for the first time this season.
The Rangers dominated the opening period and went to the first intermission ahead 2-1.
Stepan's seventh of the season put the Rangers on top 1-0 at 1:56. Megna sent a puck toward the net that deflected off left winger Rick Nash and right to Stepan, who snapped a quick shot through Niemi's legs.
Despite the territorial control, the Rangers allowed the Stars to draw even on a soft goal. Klingberg's sixth goal of the season was a long wrist shot that caught Lundqvist moving, and the puck skipped off the goaltender's right leg and slid just over the goal line to make it 1-1 at 13:50.
Eighteen seconds later, the Rangers reclaimed the lead on a long Yandle wrist shot that bounced off the knee of Stars defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka and past Niemi to make it 2-1.
Brassard was credited with his 14th goal of the season with 2:37 remaining in the second period. Left winger J.T. Miller fed the puck to Brassard, who tipped the puck through Niemi. The puck would never have crossed the goal line without help from Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya, who tapped it into his own net to put the Rangers ahead 3-1.
Stepan's eighth of the season ended any Stars' comeback hopes at 4:55 of the third period. He was denied on his initial short-handed breakaway attempt but buried the rebound to increase the lead to 4-1.
After Stalberg made it 5-1 off a rebound 1:55 later, Roussel's seventh off a pretty pass from behind the net by center Jason Spezza pulled the Stars to within 5-2 less than a minute later.
Nichushkin made it 5-3 before Megna capped the scoring 32 seconds later with 6:22 to go, finishing a 2-on-1 chance by working a give-and-go with Nash.
NOTES: Stars RW Ales Hemsky did not play due to a lower-body injury. ... The Stars scratched D Jamie Oleksiak, D Patrik Nemeth and C Radek Faksa. ... Rangers LW Kevin Hayes returned to the lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch the past two games. Hayes had 45 points in 79 games as a rookie last season but just 17 in 37 games, entering Tuesday. ... Rangers RW Jayson Megna took the place of LW Chris Kreider, who is day-to-day with a hand injury. ... Rangers LW Emerson Etem was a healthy scratch.