This is the second time Hill has been banned by the NFL. Last season, Hill served a four-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substances policy. Hill said he took the attention deficit drug Adderall.

Hill, 23, is eligible to return to the active roster on Sept. 30 after the Giants play the Chiefs. The second-year safety is eligible to participate in preseason practices and games.

The Giants are expecting stiff competition at safety in training camp. Antrel Rolle and Stevie Brown are going to start but Ryan Mundy, Hill, fifth-round pick Cooper Taylor and Tyler Sash are all competing for roles and roster spots behind the two starters.

Giants backup wide receiver Brandon Collins was also suspended for the first four games of the season last month for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.

The Giants have their first camp practice next Saturday in East Rutherford, N.J.

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With a thorough 4-1 victory Sunday, the Broadway Blueshirts took care of both.

Ryan Callahan scored a goal in the opening minute and another in the third period, and Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves as the Rangers eliminated the Devils from the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Callahan provided the lead 34 seconds in, Derek Stepan added a goal in the first period, and Taylor Pyatt snapped a long drought in the second for the eighth-place Rangers, who are inching closer to a playoff berth.

“It’s always nice to beat them,” said Brad Richards, who had two assists. “It was a big win for us. They’re out now, but that’s not why we were playing. We were playing because we need to stay alive. Now we’re down to nine teams, so the odds are better.”

Of the teams behind the Rangers, only Winnipeg can catch them. New York is even in points with seventh-place Ottawa, but the Senators have four games remaining — one more than the Rangers. Winnipeg is three points behind with three games left.

New York has won three straight and is 8-2-1 in its last 11. The Rangers aren’t looking too far ahead. After a trip to Florida and Carolina, they will wrap up their season at home Saturday against the Devils.

“We’re playing our best hockey we’ve played all year,” Callahan said. “Now is the time to do that. We’ve been playing playoff-style hockey the last couple of games. These are must-wins for us. It gives us a dress rehearsal for the playoffs.”

Callahan made it 4-0 at 5:13 of the third with a power-play goal, flipping a shot over sprawled-out goalie Martin Brodeur, who tried to poke away the puck. Brodeur heard derisive chants of “Mar-ty, Mar-ty” throughout and finished with 18 saves.

“It’s difficult to take,” Brodeur said of the elimination. “We’ve competed real hard all year.”

Lundqvist was solid in his 12th straight start, allowing only Andrei Loktionov’s goal with 6:30 remaining. The Rangers had more space between games recently. The extra rest has helped Lundqvist stay sharp.

He told coach John Tortorella he won’t ever ask out of the lineup.

“It’s like the playoffs have been going on for a couple of weeks,” Lundqvist said. “It’s fun to be out there. I don’t want to sit on the bench.”

The Devils won’t get a chance to defend their conference title. New Jersey had won two straight — including 6-2 on Saturday against Florida — following a 10-game skid (0-6-4).

“We pride ourselves on being there every year,” forward Stephen Gionta said. “Unfortunately, we’re not. It definitely hurts. The organization prides itself on winning and being in the playoffs every year. Anything less is a disappointment.”

Madison Square Garden fans serenaded the Devils with chants of “Season’s over” as time ticked down in the third.

“It hasn’t sunk in,” said Devils coach Pete DeBoer, who was ejected in the closing seconds for unsportsmanlike conduct. “You don’t want to think about it until it’s actually a reality. No other word but disappointment.”

The Devils had already been called for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, one that cost them a power-play goal, before DeBoer was ushered out.

“A little frustration on my part,” he said. “Two of our players were given unsportsmanlike conducts in an elimination game. The sensitivity of some of the officials is beyond me.”

With a 3-0 lead heading into the third period, the Rangers had all but sealed New Jersey’s fate. New York is 85-0-6 when leading after two periods, dating to Feb. 4, 2010.

The Rangers came out quickly, seemingly motivated to put the Devils away early. New Jersey knocked out New York in last year’s conference finals.

New York connected right away, scoring while Brodeur was looking the opposite way from where the puck was. Carl Hagelin worked to get free from defenders behind the net, and flung the puck in front to Callahan, who was near the left post.

While Brodeur had his head turned away from him, trying to find the puck he thought was behind the net, Callahan nudged it forward off of Brodeur’s skate and into the net for his 13th goal.

“They were waiting for us. We played yesterday,” Brodeur said. “They were able to score the first goal, and that made a big difference in the momentum.”

Game notes

Pyatt played in his 800th NHL game. … Rangers C Brian Boyle missed his third straight game because of a right leg injury. … Volchenkov returned after serving a four-game suspension for elbowing.

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Brandon Knight scored 20 points Sunday night to help the Pistons snap an 18-game losing streak against the Bulls with a 99-85 victory. The loss dropped Chicago two games behind Brooklyn in the race for the fourth seed and a chance to host a first-round series in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Jonas Jerebko added 17 points and a season-high nine rebounds for the Pistons, who also ended an eight-game home skid.

The Bulls led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter but Detroit gradually caught up and took the lead in the second after starting the period on a 12-4 run.

“From that point on, we started to get stops and get out in transition,” coach Lawrence Frank said. “We made a lot of winning-type plays and played with a lot of intensity.”

The Pistons took a 50-46 lead to intermission and pushed it to as many as 10 in the third quarter. Knight scored a dozen points in the period, including a 3-pointer that killed Chicago’s last good chance at getting close. Detroit scored the first four points of the fourth and never let the Bulls get closer than 10 points the rest of the night.

“It felt good,” said Knight, who’d seen the Pistons drop the first three games of the series against Chicago by a combined eight points.

“We were the team to not make mistakes and capitalized on their mistakes.”

Jerebko and Charlie Villanueva (12 points) sparked a bench that outscored Chicago’s 33-12.

Rodney Stuckey, starting in place of injured point guard Jose Calderon, had 14 points and rookie Andre Drummond, who shot airballs on two late free throws in a one-point loss at Chicago on March 31, added 10 rebounds for Detroit.

Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who played without leading scorer Luol Deng. Coach Tom Thibodeau wasn’t feeling sorry for his team, which has been missing former league MVP Derrick Rose all season.

“You can’t use that as an excuse,” he said. “Whoever is out there, we have to go out and get the job done.”

Nate Robinson added 18 points and Jimmy Butler scored 14 as Chicago’s two-game winning streak ended. Two of the Bulls’ last six games are against playoff-bound teams, the same number Brooklyn faces.

The teams will not see each other before the postseason.

Deng, the Bulls’ leading scorer and the NBA’s leader in minutes per game, missed the game with a sore hip. Thibodeau said the decision to bench him was “precautionary.”

Chicago’s Joakim Noah, who missed eight games with an injured right foot, and Marco Belinelli, who was out seven with an abdominal strain, each returned Sunday night. Noah finished with 13 points and seven boards.

The Bulls were aiming to match the franchise record for consecutive victories over an opponent, which also was against the Pistons. Michael Jordan’s 1990s teams won 19 in a row against Detroit.

The Pistons treated home fans to their first win since the All-Star break. They hadn’t won at the Palace of Auburn Hills since Feb. 13.

Game notes

Calderon, who had started all 28 games since Detroit acquired him in a Jan. 30 trade, missed the game with a right triceps strain. … Chicago’s last loss to the Pistons was Dec. 23, 2008. … The Bulls used their 13th different starting lineup.

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“You could see the look on everybody’s face change,” Jazz guard Randy Foye said. “Nobody said anything. It was just everybody had that look on their face, ‘You know what time it is. You know what we have to do.’ ”

While the Warriors had a chance to seal a playoff spot, Utah seized the opportunity for itself.

Mo Williams hit a huge 3-pointer in the final seconds to finish with 25 points, Al Jefferson added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and the Jazz regained the Western Conference’s final playoff position over the Lakers by holding off the Warriors 97-90 on Sunday night for a monumental road win.

“I can’t say enough about this group of guys,” Corbin said. “This was all about them and them wanting it, and the way they came out. Although we made some mistakes in the game, everybody laid everything they had in them out there on the floor.”

Williams’ 3-pointer with 13.4 seconds remaining put Utah ahead by six and spoiled Golden State’s shot to clinch a playoff berth in front of a 29th sellout crowd of 19,596. The Jazz moved a half-game ahead of the Lakers for the eighth seed. Utah also owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 2-1 against the Lakers, who lost to the Clippers 109-95 earlier in the day.

“Four games left. We’ve got have them,” Jefferson said.

Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half and Klay Thompson had 20 points for the Warriors, who were trying to clinch a postseason spot for the first time since 2007 and just the second in 19 years.

Now that celebration will have to wait.

David Lee, who has never been to the playoffs in his eight NBA seasons, added 21 points and 13 rebounds for Golden State, which was outplayed inside by Utah’s front line of Jefferson, Derrick Favors (12 points, 13 rebounds) and Paul Millsap (11 points, six rebounds) most of the way.

“We still control our own situation, which is good, but you don’t want to have this feeling again,” Curry said. “We’ve got to get it done and there’s no excuse for us not to.”

The Jazz looked every bit like a team playing with everything at stake, just as Corbin had hoped before the game. They outhustled and outmuscled Golden State for most of 48 minutes, holding off one final flurry for a critical win in front of the an Oracle Arena crowd eager to celebrate.

After the Warriors went down 11 points late in the fourth quarter, Thompson and Curry each hit a 3-pointer to cut Utah’s lead to 91-86 with 3:28 to play. Reserve Draymond Green followed by tipping in Lee’s miss to bring the Warriors within three.

Jefferson hit a jumper that silenced fans standing all over the arena, then Lee answered with a layup to bring the crowd back to full throat. Golden State forced another stop, but wasted the offensive opportunity.

Green had his layup blocked by Favors, who keyed Utah’s defense all game, but got the ball back and tossed it out to Jarrett Jack — who missed a contested 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down. The Jazz isolated Williams at the top of the arc against Green, and he drained the shot that sent Utah home with a monumental win.

“I don’t know what’s going on with them, to be honest,” Williams said of Golden State’s playoff-starved crowd. “We’ve got enough going on with us.”

The Warriors are just a game ahead of Houston — which owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 3-1 — for the West’s sixth seed. Golden State still needs any combination of two wins or losses by the conference’s ninth team to seal a playoff berth.

“They played like a team that their playoff lives depended on this game,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “We played, at times, like a team that had a cushion.”

Curry kept the Warriors close by scoring the first nine points during his team’s erratic start, which included four turnovers in the game’s first 4:12. He made his first three shots from the arc, the last giving Golden State a 38-29 lead midway through the second quarter.

The Jazz erased that deficit in fewer than four minutes behind a 17-4 run capped by Gordon Hayward’s 3-pointer. After going ahead by 10 points on consecutive deep 3s by Foye and Williams, Utah held on for a 56-48 halftime lead.

Golden State sliced Utah’s lead to a point in the third quarter before the Jazz took control again. Jefferson converted a layup over Jack to start a three-point play that highlighted a 10-1 spurt that put Utah up 75-65, a deficit the Warriors never could overcome.

“No way,” Favors said, “did I want to see them celebrate.”

Game notes

Utah won the season series 2-1. … Jazz reserve F Alec Burks sat out with a sprained right ankle, which occurred during Utah’s win over New Orleans on Friday night. He is day to day. … The Warriors signed G Scott Machado from Santa Cruz of the NBA Development League to a 10-day contract.

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“I don’t want to say no, but we’ll see [Monday],” Quenneville said of the two players after Saturday’s practice at Johnny’s IceHouse West.

More On The Blackhawks

For all the latest on the Blackhawks, check out Scott Powers’ blog on ESPNChicago.com. Blog

Forward Viktor Stalberg missed practice Saturday, but he is likely to play on Sunday, according to Quenneville. Stalberg was struck in the face by a puck in the third period of Friday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks and did not return.

Hossa has missed four games since suffering an unspecified upper-body injury against the Colorado Avalanche on March 18. He has 13 goals and 10 assists in 28 games this season.

Sharp has missed nine games since suffering an unspecified upper-body injury, also against the Avalanche, on March 6. He has five goals and 13 assists in 24 games this season.

Hossa and Sharp participated in their first full practice on Saturday. They weren’t allowed contact previously.

“It’s another step in returning,” Sharp said. “I felt fine doing the contact stuff. I’m sure there will be more of that in the next few days and hopefully come back soon.”

Sharp said he was close to returning, but it was important to be completely healthy when he plays again.

“It’s still not 100 percent,” Sharp said. “I think the idea is to come back and have the injury completely behind you not only mentally, but physically more than anything. Just to know I can take hits to the upper body and be fine, so you don’t have to keep tweaking it and addressing it all through playoffs and end of the season.”

Hossa also said he had to be patient in his return despite his desire to be out on the ice helping the team.

“Obviously when the team loses, you feel like you [could] try to help,” Hossa said. “But like I said, you don’t want to rush things with this type of injury because you can get hurt again, and you’ll be more out than you wanted to be.”

The Blackhawks have gone 4-5 without Sharp and 2-3 without Hossa this season. The Blackhawks are 20-0-3 with both players in the lineup this season.

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That’s how long it took Carmelo Anthony to show he was back, pulling up comfortably for a 3-pointer on New York’s first possession.

“Big-time relief,” the Knicks coach said. “I mean, lets me know that Melo’s being Melo.”

And the Knicks looked like the Knicks from earlier in the season, before Anthony’s struggles halted their momentum.

Anthony scored 21 points after missing the previous three games with a knee injury, and the Knicks beat the Orlando Magic 106-94 on Wednesday night.

J.R. Smith had 22 points for New York, still short-handed in the frontcourt but looking much better with Anthony back. The NBA’s second-leading scorer hadn’t played since leaving the Knicks’ road trip last week to have fluid drained from the back of his right knee. He said it felt better right after going to the hospital after he had been feeling discomfort for weeks.

“I feel good, I feel healthy,” Anthony said. “I’m glad I went and got that procedure done so I put that behind me now.”

He moved well and shot 7 of 14 while grabbing eight rebounds as the Knicks closed in on a playoff spot they could wrap up this week.

“Any time you have a great scorer like that, it’s going to be tough for you. Not one person in the league, in the world can guard him 1-on-1,” Magic guard Jameer Nelson said. “So you’ve got to do different things and try to get him out of his rhythm. I thought he did a great job by being patient and taking shots when he wanted to or needed to, and passing it when the double-team came.”

The Knicks shot 53 percent and won their second straight after dropping the first four games of their five-game trip. All-Star center Tyson Chandler is expected to miss about a week with a bulging disk, and reserve forwards Amare Stoudemire, Rasheed Wallace and Kurt Thomas all could miss the rest of the regular season. But New York had no trouble despite using a small lineup that featured 6-foot-9 Kenyon Martin as the center.

Iman Shumpert, who joined Anthony, Martin, Raymond Felton and Pablo Prigioni in the lineup, sat out after hurting his knee late in the first half. He said he was scared after hearing a pop, having torn up his knee last spring, but trainers told him it was likely scar tissue. He sat on the bench in uniform and Woodson said he could have returned, but kept him out as the Knicks blew it open.

Tobias Harris and Andrew Nicholson each scored 14 points for the Magic in their fifth straight loss. They played without center Nikola Vucevic because of an illness in the second night of a difficult back-to-back, after falling by 22 at Indiana on Tuesday.

New York beat Orlando for the sixth straight time and swept the season series for the first time since 1997-98.

Anthony said he was feeling pain just before the All-Star break, more than a month ago. The knee became worse when the Knicks had games on back-to-back nights against Miami and Cleveland on March 3-4, and he fell to the court without contact while trying to catch a pass in the second game.

He missed the next three games, then came back. But he was clearly limited in losses at Golden State and Denver, totaling just 23 points, and he finally realized the knee needed more than just rest.

“I was worried because I didn’t really know what was the cause of it, what was going on,” he said. “I knew for sure that it wasn’t no ligament damage or anything like that, so I just wish that I could have gotten to the bottom of it quicker or we could’ve got to the bottom of it quicker.”

He had rejoined the team on the West Coast following the procedure but didn’t want to rush back, and determined he was ready Wednesday after feeling good over the last couple of days.

New York built a 22-7 lead after consecutive 3-pointers by Smith and Chris Copeland capped a 10-0 run. They led 26-15 after one, but Orlando got untracked with a 31-point second quarter, cutting it to 51-46 at the half.

The Knicks put it away midway through the third, getting two free throws and a follow shot by Anthony to start a 10-2 burst that extended a 10-point lead to 78-60.

“I think they’re the hardest team to defend in the NBA. With Melo and his ability to score and play the 4 and then with four shooters all around him, it’s hard to help out and get back. You saw tonight they made a lot of 3s,” Harris said. “They’re definitely a tough match-up team and that’s what makes them so good.”

Game notes

Woodson said he didn’t expect the Knicks to make any moves to fortify the frontcourt because Wallace and Thomas could be back around the start of the playoffs. And he said he still “absolutely” believes in the Knicks’ decision to load up on older players over the summer, believing the injuries happened because the veterans played more minutes than expected because of injuries to other players. … Thomas said he’d had a stress fracture in his foot in 2006 while playing for Phoenix and had learned recently it didn’t completely heal. … The Knicks wished director and leading fan Spike Lee a happy birthday between the first and second quarters. … Magic coach Jacque Vaughn was ejected from Tuesday’s game and said he didn’t want to discuss his feelings about Indiana’s physical play for fear of losing more money, smiling that his wife was mad about the fines that come with the two technical fouls he received during the loss to the Pacers.

The post Carmelo Anthony returns to lineup, scores 21 points in win vs. Magic appeared first on IdealCapper.

Turris scored twice, including the winning goal 3:54 into overtime, and added an assist to help the Senators overcome an early two-goal deficit and beat the unraveling Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Saturday.

“I don’t know what it was, but my legs didn’t feel the best in the first period,” Turris said, before noting how the massage and injection of caffeine provided him a boost during the first intermission. “I felt much better in the second and much better in the third. I don’t know why, but it happens like that sometimes.”

Turris capped the Senators’ three-goal second period by scoring on a wraparound goal with 63 seconds left. After Buffalo’s Drew Stafford tied it at 3 with 7:54 left in regulation, Turris sealed the win with a power-play goal in overtime.

With Christian Ehrhoff off for interference, Daniel Alfredsson fed Turris in the lower left circle, where he one-timed a shot over goalie Ryan Miller’s shoulder on the short side.

Patrick Wiercioch had a goal and assist, and Chris Phillips also scored for Ottawa, which won for only the second time in eight games (2-2-4). Ben Bishop made 33 saves in his first start in four games. The Senators also extended their string of games decided by one goal to 11, one short of matching the NHL record set by Chicago during the 1997-98 season.

Stafford scored twice, and Mike Weber added a goal for Buffalo, which dropped to 1-2-3 in its past six games.

While the Senators celebrated their ability to bounce back after a sloppy first period, the Sabres lamented yet another inconsistent outing.

“I thought the first (period) was probably one of our best periods of the year, and the second was probably one of our worst,” Sabres interim coach Ron Rolston said. “We must have just got comfortable.”

The Sabres (10-14-4) can’t afford to get comfortable given how coach Lindy Ruff was fired a month ago.

Their fans continued to express their displeasure of a high-priced team that opened the season with high expectations. An hour after the game, one fan was heard inside the near-empty arena yelling, “Darcy’s got to go!” in reference to Sabres general manager Darcy Regier.

“It’s disappointing,” Sabres captain Jason Pominville said. “We just can’t get one point. We have to be able to get two points. We had a two-goal lead, and it just wasn’t good enough.”

That two-goal lead Buffalo enjoyed was its largest entering a second period in 32 games, dating to March 27 of last season. And the Sabres promptly squandered it.

Ottawa scored twice in the first 10:14, during a stretch in which it outshot Buffalo 12-2. Turris then gave the Senators their first lead by avoiding Jochen Hecht’s weak stick check attempt and banking the puck in off Miller’s skate.

Senators coach Paul MacLean was impressed by how his team rallied.

“That’s what we had to do — respond,” MacLean said. “Down 2-0 on the road, the next goal is huge. And I thought we came out and established our game finally and put some pressure on their goaltender.”

The Senators took full advantage of the flat-footed Sabres less than two minutes into the second period. During a 10-second span, Miller was forced to stop four shots — two by Jakob Silfverberg and two by Peter Regin — from in close. They all came after defenseman Robyn Regehr’s lazy giveaway inside his blue line.

Miller finished with 30 saves, including foiling Guillaume Latendresse, who was set up on the doorstep shortly before Turris scored in overtime.

Bishop was sharp, too. His best save came with 2:27 left in regulation during a Sabres power play. That is when he got his right pad out just in time to stop Thomas Vanek’s one-timer.

He had no chance on Stafford’s second goal, which deflected in off Senators forward Zack Smith’s stick in front.

“It’s going to happen sometimes,” Bishop said. “We responded well, so, no big deal.”

Game notes

Sabres LW Ville Leino had an assist in his season debut. He missed the first 27 games with a hip injury. … Senators D Sergei Gonchar had two assists to extend his point streak to six games. … Sabres RW Patrick Kaleta completed his five-game NHL suspension for an illegal hit, and is available to return to play at Washington on Sunday. … Senators LW Matt Kassian made his NHL season debut after being acquired in a trade with Minnesota on March 12. Kassian had been playing with Houston of the AHL.

The post Kyle Turris lifts Senators in 11th straight one-goal game appeared first on IdealCapper.

“I wanted it so bad,” Fleury said. “I tried to not jinx it. I was touching wood, but yeah I was looking forward to getting it finally.”

The reeling Rangers offered little resistance.

Fleury stopped 23 shots for his 23rd shutout — one more than Tom Barrasso — and the Penguins beat New York 3-0 for their eighth straight victory.

Beau Bennett, Pascal Dupuis and Tyler Kennedy scored, and Dustin Jeffrey added two assists as the Penguins continued to dominate the series.

Pittsburgh has won seven consecutive meetings with New York, which lost for the fourth time in its last five games. Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves for the Rangers, but New York failed to score for the third time this season. The Rangers, the best team in the Eastern Conference last spring, trail Pittsburgh by 14 points with six weeks left in the regular season and currently find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

“It’s gut check time pretty much,” New York defenseman Dan Girardi said. “We’ve got to figure out what’s going on here and play with some serious desperation. We’re falling in the standings here.”

The Penguins continued to head in the opposite direction. Pittsburgh is in firm control of the Atlantic Division and in a race with Boston and Montreal for the conference’s best record thanks in part to a suddenly responsible defense.

The league’s most potent attack has a tendency to get a little loose with the puck from time to time, flubbing away turnovers that frequently put Fleury and backup Tomas Vokoun into tight spots. Those problems have disappeared in the last week. Pittsburgh has given up only four goals in its last four games and Fleury insists it’s not just by accident.

“For a while there we gave up a lot of goals but I think everybody kind of tightened up and we’re more conscious of our defensive zone, guys blocking shots and coming back in the zone to help out,” he said. “It’s been great for us.”

Fleury has been pretty good in his own right. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NHL draft is 10-1 in his last 11 decisions and has back-to-back shutouts against the Rangers.

Then again, the Rangers hardly put up much of a fight. New York didn’t record a shot for the game’s first 10 minutes and save for a brief burst at the start of the second period spent most of the game on its heels while losing its third straight. The Rangers have scored just two goals during the skid.

“I thought today we were in mud, we really struggled, but we righted the ship,” New York coach John Tortorella said. “I thought we played a good second period. I thought we were in a good spot going into the third period.”

Not for long. Kennedy drew a tripping penalty from New York’s Anton Stralman then cashed in a minute later when he rocketed a one-timer from the left circle past Lundqvist.

Less than 60 seconds later it was 3-0 as Dupuis scored his 14th of the season. The Penguins clamped down over the final 12 minutes, the only drama surrounding Fleury’s pursuit of the shutout mark. New York only really came close to scoring once, when a Carl Hagelin wrist shot knuckled off Fleury’s midsection, fell to the ice and laid tantalizingly close to the goal line. Fleury managed to put his glove on it before it could trickle into the net.

“I think you need a little bit of good bounces here and there to get a shutout and definitely tonight that was a good one there,” Fleury said.

The Rangers spoke openly before the game about the need to get off to a strong start to offset disappointing losses Buffalo and Winnipeg. It didn’t happen.

Bennett gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead barely 90 seconds in, taking a nifty tap pass off the boards from Jeffrey and blistering a slap shot from right circle over Lundqvist’s shoulder. Only brilliant play from the New York goalie prevented things from getting any worse for the Rangers, who needed more than 10 minutes to get off a shot and spent most of the first 20 minutes in a general malaise.

“We wanted to have a big first period and get some energy and … we ended up watching them play in our own end,” Girardi said.

It happened all too often on a day the Penguins showcased how wide the gap between two teams with Stanley Cup expectations is at the moment.

“That’s why (the Penguins are) where they’re at right now,” Tortorella said. “They seize those opportunities and they make a couple of big plays and we haven’t gotten to our identity consistent enough.”

Game notes

Penguins C Evgeni Malkin did not skate on Saturday and he remains out with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Coach Dan Bylsma says there is no timetable on Malkin’s return. The reigning NHL MVP has missed the last four games and eight of Pittsburgh’s last 11 … Pittsburgh hosts the Boston Bruins on Sunday. The Rangers are off until Monday when they host Carolina. … The Rangers scratched D Stu Bickel and Matt Gilroy while the Penguins scratched D Deryk Engelland and Roberto Bortuzzo along with Malkin.

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The Anaheim Ducks’ star winger was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for his late hit on Minnesota Wild winger Jason Zucker.

Perry, who will forfeit $115,135.12 in salary, also was suspended four games in January 2009 for an elbow to the head of Philadelphia Flyers star Claude Giroux.

Rob Blake of the NHL’s Player Safety Department explained the Perry suspension in a league video released Wednesday.

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nthony returned to the floor Monday night for the New York Knicks after missing the previous three games with soreness in his right knee. He struggled in a 92-63 loss at Golden State, missing 11 of 15 shots in 34 minutes and finishing with 14 points.

Anthony told reporters in Oakland, Calif., after the game that his knee affected his play.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be 100 percent, to be honest with you, but I will play,” he said.

Anthony has been dealing with stiffness in the back of his right knee for several weeks due to a buildup of fluid. An MRI taken in February revealed no structural damage. The Knicks’ medical staff had hoped that rest would help the fluid dissipate.

Anthony, the NBA’s second-leading scorer, sat out for six days after aggravating the injury on March 4 against Cleveland but still feels discomfort. He told reporters on Monday that he hasn’t received a definitive diagnosis.

“Nobody can really give me an exact answer on it,” said Anthony, who returns to Denver on Wednesday for the first time since the Nuggets traded him to the Knicks in 2012. “There’s no pain, no ligament damage or anything like that. There’s just some fluid in the back of the knee that’s preventing me from hyperextending my knee sometimes.”

Anthony’s isn’t the only health issue that the Knicks (38-23) are trying to get a handle on. The team announced that power forward Amar’e Stoudemire underwent right knee surgery to remove debris on Monday and is is expected to miss approximately six weeks.

Stoudemire’s absence makes Anthony’s health all the more important for the Knicks. New York is tied with Indiana for second place in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks have four games remaining on their current, season-high five-game road trip.

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