Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist Tuesday as the Pittsburgh Penguins halted the visiting New York Rangers' win streak at seven with a 3-2 win.
It was a rematch from the first round of the 2022 playoffs, when the Rangers advanced with a Game 7 overtime win.
Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust also scored for the Penguins, who have won eight of nine.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 26 saves and has won seven straight starts.
Chris Kreider had two goals and Vincent Trochek added two assists for the Rangers.
ADVERTISEMENT
New York goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 21 saves in his first regulation road loss (9-1-1).
Pittsburgh got a strong scoring chance right after the opening faceoff, but Shesterkin made a skate save on Rickard Rakell.
The Rangers immediately raced the other way and scored off the rush. From the far side of the left circle, Kreider let loose a shot. The puck went off Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who was tying up Trocheck, and over Jarry's left shoulder for a 1-0 lead 22 seconds into regulation.
Malkin scored a significant goal at 14:24 of the second, and only partly because it produced a 1-1 tie. From the top of the left circle on a power play, he let go a shot that went between the skates of Rakell, who was screening in front. That gave the Penguins at least one power-play goal in nine straight games.
The goal also gave Malkin a nine-game point streak (three goals, 13 points), and put him at 1,179 career points, tying him with one of his idols, Sergei Federov, for second-most NHL points by a Russian-born player.
With 12.7 seconds left in the second, Rust gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead with another power-play goal. In front, he deflected Pierre-Olivier Joseph's shot from the left point past Shesterkin.
Crosby increased it to 3-1 at 8:40 of the third when he took a pass from Jake Guentzel and finished off a two-on-one.
The Rangers closed it to 3-2 just 1:23 later when Trocheck wove down the right side and set up Kreider in front.
ADVERTISEMENT
--Field Level Media
The Trust Project
