Surging Pens overcome 2-goal deficit

Associated Press

NEW YORK

The surging Pittsburgh Penguins are closing in on the top spot in their division.

Teddy Blueger scored twice, Matt Murray made 33 saves and the Penguins rallied from an early two-goal deficit for a 5-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Monday night.

“I thought we didn’t have a great start,” Blueger said. “We know we have the firepower in here to get back in those kinds of games. We didn’t get down on ourselves. We kept pushing each other.”

Blueger centered the second line, with Evengi Malkin out of the lineup due to an upper-body injury.

“He’s playing an important role for us right now, especially with Geno out of the lineup, and he’s done a great job,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

Sullivan said after the game that Malkin, who has been out since leaving a game against St. Louis on March 16, did not skate Monday but “skated a couple of days prior to that.”

Justin Schultz, Nick Bjugstad and Matt Cullen also scored for Pittsburgh. Phil Kessel and Marcus Pettersson each added two assists.

“One of those [games] where everyone seemed to contribute,” Bjugstad said.

Murray improved to 6-0-0 against the Rangers in the regular season and 5-0-0 at Madison Square Garden.

Pittsburgh, which finished a 3-0-1 road trip, pulled into a tie with the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division with 95 points. Both teams trail Washington by one point for first.

“We’re all well aware of the standings and where we’re at,” Sullivan said.

Brendan Lemieux and Vinni Lettieri scored for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev, coming off a 44-save effort in a 2-1 overtime win Saturday night at Toronto, stopped 31 shots.

“We weren’t able to sustain all the good things we did in the first period,” coach David Quinn said.

“And for them to tie it so quickly seemed to deflate us. We never got back on track.”

Trailing 2-1, the Penguins roared back with three goals in the second.

They tied the game 61 seconds into the period on the power play. Sidney Crosby had the puck behind the Rangers net and sent a pass to Schultz, who one-timed it past Georgiev for his second of the season.

“I just saw Sid go behind the net,” Schultz said. “Obviously, he’s got great vision. Tried to find a lane. He made a great pass.”