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WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Theo Fleury continues to make amends for a miserable season. Fleury grabbed a share of the league lead with his 12th and 13th goals and the New York Rangers moved above .500 for the first time in nearly a month with a 5-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. The current NHL Player of the Week, Fleury has scored in five of his last six games, tallying eight times during that stretch. The 13 goals are only two short of his total for all of last season, when he was one of several free agent disappointments on a Rangers' team that missed the playoffs for the third straight year. But Fleury has fueled the recent resurgence that lifted the Rangers into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with Pittsburgh. The diminutive winger broke a 2-2 tie and put New York in front for good with a power-play goal 18:12 into the second period. After Jan Hlavac and Washington's Andrei Nikolishin traded third-period goals, Fleury scored into an empty net from his own blue line, then did an impromptu jig with tongue wagging to celebrate the shorthanded tally. "It is real satisfying that I have been able to get off to such a good start," he said. "The main thing is that I am skating a lot better. To be honest with you, I feel like I am going to score every game. You just know when you get that open chance, it's going to go in somehow." Valeri Kamensky and Mike York also scored for the Rangers, who have won three straight and five of their last six games. "We are a pretty focused team right now. We seem to be all on the same page," said New York goaltender Mike Richter, who made 27 saves. "I like the fact that we are winning, but I love the way we are winning. Every shift has a sense of urgency." Peter Bondra had a goal and an assist, but Washington had a three-game home unbeaten streak stopped. "There was a lot of excitement and some scoring chances, but with a team like the Rangers, if you make some mental mistakes defensively they are going to put the puck away," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "We made some bad mistakes." Chris Simon, who led the Caps with 29 goals in 1999-00, opened the scoring with his first of the season on the power play with 7:57 left in the opening period. Kamensky tied it less than four minutes later, but Bondra put Washington back in front just six seconds thereafter. York forged a 2-2 deadlock 2:04 into the second period when his shot from the left side trickled past goalie Olaf Kolzig. New York's Petr Nedved lost control of the puck on a breakaway later in the period and the Rangers hit a goalpost before Fleury broke the tie. With Caps defenseman Joe Reekie serving a cross-checking penalty, Fleury leaned into a wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Kolzig inside the left post. "He is playing with a lot more energy," Nedved said of Fleury. "A guy like that can get on a hot streak and ride it for a long time. He is scoring like there is no tomorrow." Jan Hlavac converted a perfect cross-ice pass from Radek Dvorak 99 seconds into the third period to extend New York's lead to 4-2, but Nikolishin got back the goal at 15:29. "I don't think we played a bad game. We had lots of chances," Nikolishin said. "When we score three goals, we should win the game. We can't give so many."
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