Red Wings’ Schneider Is a Cut Above the Rest

A deep cut on the cheek didn’t stop Red Wing defenseman Mathieu Schneider from scoring a key goal Wednesday night at Detroit.

Schneider’s short-handed goal 59 seconds into the third period restored his team’s two-goal lead, and the Red Wings went on to a 6-2 victory over Dallas, handing the Stars their fourth straight defeat.

In the first period, Schneider was struck in the face by a puck, a wound that required several stitches.

The blood was still flowing early in the third period when Schneider turned a penalty kill into a goal from the left circle, pushing Detroit’s lead to 4-2.

“He got hit in the face and it kept bleeding and getting all over his jersey,” Red Wing Coach Dave Lewis said. “After every shift he had to have it tidied up, and then he scored that huge goal.”

New York Rangers 6, Pittsburgh 2 -- With Eric Lindros out with another injury and a goal already on the board, the Rangers decided to just keep shooting at 18-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury.

They put a season-high 42 shots on net and ended their three-game losing streak with a victory at New York.

Martin Rucinsky had a goal and two assists, and Petr Nedved and Vladimir Malakhov each had a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who played the final 53-plus minutes without Lindros.

Lindros, playing his third game since a chest injury forced him to sit out seven, injured his eye when he was struck in the face by Josef Melichar’s high stick.

Fleury made 36 saves in his 11th NHL game and first since the initial year of his contract officially went into effect.

Washington 7, Carolina 1 -- At Washington, Robert Lang had his first NHL hat trick.

Dainius Zubrus scored twice for the Capitals, who had lost 10 of their previous 12 games.

Lang, who also had an assist, extended his point streak to seven games with a wrist shot through the legs of Kevin Weekes 1:24 into the first period.

Lang added his second of the night to cap a third-period flurry in which the teams combined to score four goals in 1:16.

New Jersey 2, Buffalo 2 -- Maxim Afinogenov’s third-period goal gave the Sabres a tie with the Devils in the first NHL regular-season game played in Rochester, N.Y.

Calgary 6, Chicago 2 -- Rookie Matthew Lombardi had three goals, and Dean McAmmond added two for the Flames in Chicago. The Flames’ Jamie McLennan stopped 31 shots.