Seven Penguins score in win against Rangers

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins' scoring slump didn't last long.
After Pittsburgh scored one goal in its past two games, seven players scored for the Penguins for the second time in December in a 7-2 win against the New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
"I thought it was one of our more complete games," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we came out with a lot of energy. We had a great start. I thought we grabbed momentum right from the very first shift."

WATCH: All Rangers vs. Penguins highlights
Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel scored in the second period to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead. After Michael Grabner made it 3-2, Justin Schultz, Bryan Rust and Patric Hornqvist each got goals to make it 6-2 with 7:38 left in the third period.
Nick Bonino scored with 10.9 seconds remaining to make it 7-2.
Sidney Crosby scored his NHL-leading 22nd goal in 27 games.
Seven Penguins also scored in a 7-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 12. Pittsburgh has scored 47 goals in 10 games (8-0-2) in December.
Matt Murray, who is 13-2-1, made 26 saves for the Penguins. Antti Raanta made 40 saves for the Rangers.

The Penguins (21-7-5) are tied with the Rangers (23-11-1) for first place in the Metropolitan Division, each with 47 points.
"When you look at your schedule at the beginning of the season, with experience you're capable of picking out certain dates that might be more challenging than others," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "I knew this one was going to be one of those and without a doubt, it was."
Pittsburgh outshot New York 22-9 in the first period, but entered the intermission tied 1-1.
After Kevin Klein was given a double-minor for a high stick on Carl Hagelin, Crosby gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Ian Cole took a slap shot from the point that Crosby deflected off Raanta's blocker and in 5:55 into the first.
Rangers forward Matt Puempel tied it 1-1 with 3:01 left in the first.

After killing a power play, the Penguins took a 2-1 lead on a goal from Malkin 4:43 into the second period. The goal was Malkin's second in as many games and 14th of the season.
Kessel extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal, his 11th of the season, 8:53 into the second.
Grabner snuck his Rangers-leading 14th goal past Murray's blocker 1:52 into the third period to make it 3-2.
Schultz scored his sixth goal in 11 games to extend Pittsburgh's lead to 4-2 before Rust scored his ninth goal 2:01 later.
Hornqvist scored Pittsburgh's third power-play goal of the game to make it 6-2 with 7:38 remaining.

Goal of the game

After the puck was knocked off Malkin's stick, it slid to Chris Kunitz at the top of the left circle, where he sent a cross-ice pass back to Malkin. At the top of the right circle, Malkin dropped to one knee and shot past Raanta to give Pittsburgh a lead early in the second period.

Save of the game

Cole shot toward the crease and Crosby backhanded a pass to Rust in front of Raanta. Rust took a point-black shot, which Raanta denied with his left pad to keep Pittsburgh's lead at 3-1 with 2:54 remaining in the second period.

Highlight of the game

With the Penguins leading 2-1, Kessel snuck a shot through traffic that trickled toward the goal line. New York defenseman Nick Holden scooped the puck away from the line, but not before it crossed over to push Pittsburgh's lead to two goals.

Unsung performance of the game

Without defensemen Kris Letang (lower body) and Trevor Daley (upper body), Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta might have quietly had his best game of the season. He played 22:50 and led Pittsburgh with a season-high seven hits.

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They said it

"It's more fun if you score more goals, you know? The last two games, we scored one goal. It was a good game for everyone tonight. … Everything worked tonight. I'm glad we won against the Rangers. It's a battle. … The Rangers are a great team, but we were better tonight." -- Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin
"Being honest with ourselves, we got outworked, for sure. Maybe not the whole game, but in times there. That's a credit to them. … But that's no excuse for us." -- Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh

Need to know

Rangers forward Rick Nash did not play Tuesday and will miss at least one more game after injuring his groin against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, Vigneault said. … Sullivan reunited Pittsburgh's "HBK Line" of Bonino centering Hagelin and Kessel. After starting the season intact, the line has been broken up and put back together several times over the past two months.

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What's next

Rangers: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Penguins: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, ROOT, NHL.TV)