Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin scores a goal against New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist during the first period in the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

AFP/Toronto

Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had his shutout streak snapped but the Penguins still ended up victorious, beating the New York Rangers 4-2 on Wednesday to take a 3-1 lead in the second round series.

Fleury, who had held the Rangers scoreless in the previous two wins, only faced 15 shots as Pittsburgh grabbed a commanding best-of-seven advantage to move one win from a second straight Eastern Conference final appearance.

The Penguins lost to the Boston Bruins in last year’s conference final.

Against New York, Pittsburgh used stout defense and forced the action. “We went after them (New York) and didn’t sit back,” Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby told reporters, after finishing with two assists. “We didn’t allow them to have much time and space.”

Brandon Sutter put the Penguins ahead 2-1 in the second period, while Jussi Jokinen and Chris Kunitz added scores in the third to clinch the win.

Left winger Carl Hagelin and center Mats Zuccarello scored for New York, who lost back-to-back games at home and three straight overall.

The Rangers never led in the game and spent most of the night chasing the play. They gave the puck away 25 times and won only 18 of 49 faceoffs.

“We didn’t pick a good night to manage the puck the way we did tonight,” said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault. “I don’t want to take any credit away from Pittsburgh. They forced the play and they played a real solid game without the puck that obviously forced us into a lot of those turnovers.”

New York continued to struggle on their power-play and did not convert either of their two chances. The Rangers have gone scoreless in their last 36 power-play chances.

Blues extend Hitchcock coaching deal to next year

The St. Louis Blues extended the contract of coach Ken Hitchcock for next season on Wednesday, 10 days after the team was ousted from the National Hockey League playoffs.

Hitchcock guided the Blues to a club-record 52 triumphs last season and the third-best record in the Western Conference, but St. Louis was eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Hitchcock ranks seventh on the NHL’s all-time win list and second among active coaches with 657 regular-season triumphs against 405 losses with 178 draws or overtime losses with the Blues, Philadelphia and Columbus.

The 62-year-old Canadian won the Stanley Cup as a coach with Dallas in 1999 and was an assistant coach for the Canadian Winter Olympic hockey squad of NHL stars that won gold at Sochi last February.

Hitchcock is 124-55-20 with the Blues in the regular season and was named the NHL Coach of the Year in 2012.