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NY Rangers 5, San Jose 3

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- With Eric Lindros missing the final two periods after taking a hit and Theo Fleury taking a match penalty, rookie Dan Blackburn made 40 saves and the New York Rangers got goals from five different players Friday night en route to a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Lindros, whose career has been threatened by multiple concussions, was kept out of the final 40 minutes for precautionary reasons.

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Fleury left seven minutes into the game after a knee-to-knee hit on Sharks center Mark Smith, leaving New York without three of its top players. Captain Mark Messier was scratched for the fourth straight game due to a shoulder injury.

But the Rangers, who improved to 4-1-1 in their last six games, got goals from unexpected sources. Defenseman Vladimir Malakhov scored in the first period, rookie Mikael Samuelsson tallied on the power play in the second and Radek Dvorak ended a 16-game drought.

Manny Malhotra and Sandy McCarthy added third-period goals for New York, which snapped a four-game losing streak against the Sharks, defeating them for the first time since Jan. 4, 1999.

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Rookie Matt Bradley got his first goal of the season and Adam Graves and Stephane Matteau scored against their former team, but San Jose fell to 0-3-1 in its last four games after a team-record 10-game unbeaten streak.

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