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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins went on a winning streak after firing their coach. They hope to go on another such streak now that they've fired much of their team.
Josef Beranek and Bob Boughner scored goals in their first game with the revamped Penguins, who ended a lengthy power-play drought in beating the Florida Panthers 4-2 Thursday night.
|  | | Panthers goalie Trevor Kidd made 22 saves, but it wasn't enough to save his team in Pittsburgh. |
The Penguins won for the third time against two ties in 12 games to open a one-point lead over Montreal for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Canadiens tied Philadelphia 1-1.
The trading flurry paid off as Beranek, who played briefly for the Penguins three years ago, scored the go-ahead goal in the second period by intercepting Florida defenseman Bret Hedican's pass in the Panthers' zone.
"The new guys, they filled some holes and did a nice job. They gave us a good jump," coach Herb Brooks said. "And they got most of the goals."
Penguins goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin, no longer worried he might lose his starting job now that Tom Barrasso has been traded, played well in his 16th successive start. He stopped 31 of 33 shots in helping send the Panthers to their ninth loss in 13 games.
"When we got a new coach (Brooks), we won four in a row, and maybe we can do it again," Aubin said. "I think we were relaxed before the game. We know we can score goals and we're tougher now on defense."
Panthers coach Terry Murray said the game changed on Beranek's goal at 18:28 of the second.
"We never recovered from that one," he said. "They threw the puck to the net on three of the goals, and it looked like they were redirected three times. We've got to turn this around."
Before the game, Pittsburgh was saying the same thing.
Jan Hrdina had three assists as the Penguins scored more than three goals for the first time in 17 games, the longest such streak in team history.
Boughner, an enforcer-type defenseman who had scored only twice all season for Nashville, ended a 0-for-19 Penguins power-play slump by scoring at 8:56 of the third to make it 3-1. Before the goal, the Penguins had converted five of their last 74 power play chances.
Boughner jumped into the play late, skating to Rob Brown's pass to center point and line-driving a shot past Trevor Kidd, who leads the NHL in goals-against average and had not allowed more than three goals in a game this season.
As did two of the Penguins' other three goals, the puck deflected off a Panthers player.
"I got out there right at the end of the play, got a lucky break and got a goal," Boughner said.
That goal proved important when Len Barrie scored his sixth at 14:02 off Mark Parrish's rebound. But Matthew Barnaby answered with his ninth goal, teeing up a shot from the high slot that sailed by Kidd at 16:47 of the third.
"It's frustrating," Florida's Scott Mellanby said. "I really don't know what to say. We can talk all we want, but we have to finish the job. I thought we played pretty solid in the first period, it just got away from us in the second period and we never got it back."
Pavel Bure assisted on Barrie's goal and scored the first goal at 11:55 of the first, a slap shot from the right point set up by Robert Svehla's pass from behind the net.
Bure, who played some at left wing in addition to the right side in an effort to break him out of a brief scoring slump, has 10 goals in 18 games among his NHL-leading 47 goals.
Pittsburgh won for the third time against two ties in 11 games since NHL scoring leader Jaromir Jagr was hurt Feb. 21 in Tampa. Jagr, who had surgery on his left thigh last month, resumed practicing Wednesday and hopes to play a few shifts Sunday night against the New York Rangers.
Aubin will likely get a night off during Pittsburgh's back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday so newly acquired goalie Ron Tugnutt can make his Penguins debut, probably Saturday night at Boston.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Florida Clubhouse
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Jagr returns to Penguins practice with effects of injury lingering
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NY Islanders 4
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Toronto 4
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Montreal 1
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Pittsburgh 4
Florida 2
Chicago 5
Boston 4
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Colorado 2
Vancouver 6
Buffalo 3
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