NEW YORK _ Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby scored in a shootout to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory against the New York Rangers Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
Penguins goalie Matt Murray stopped both shooters he faced in the shootout, Mika Zibanejad and Mats Zuccarello.
The victory pulled the Penguins out of a season-worst 0-2-2 skid and raised their record to 47-19-11.
They remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division, seven points ahead of the fourth-place Rangers, who have four games remaining.
The Penguins climbed to within one point of second-place Columbus, pending the outcome of the Blue Jackets' game in Chicago.
Defenseman Jake Guentzel, who had missed the previous four games with a concussion, and defenseman Ron Hainsey, who sat out the previous seven because of an undisclosed injury, returned to the Penguins' lineup.
Guentzel stepped right back into his spot alongside Crosby and Conor Sheary on the No. 1 line, and didn't need much time to make his presence felt as he scored the goal that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead 39 seconds into the second period.
New York ran up an early 6-1 advantage in shots, but the Penguins recorded 14 of the 16 that followed before the first intermission.
Neither team scored, however, as Murray made a couple of quality saves early and his Rangers counterpart, Henrik Lundqvist, produced some dazzling stops in the second half of the period.
He withstood a flurry by the Crosby line about 11 minutes into the period, then denied a series of close-in shots by Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz with just over six minutes remaining.
The Penguins were awarded the only two power plays of the period and failed to capitalize on either, but Guentzel staked them two a 1-0 advantage just two seconds after their second try with the extra man expired.
He was along the left side of the crease and steered a cross-ice feed from Crosby past Lundqvist for his 12th of the season.
Crosby's assist was his first in seven games and the 641st of his career, moving him past Jaromir Jagr and into second place on the franchise's all-time list.
Phil Kessel received the second assist, his team-leading 44th.
Crosby, the NHL's leading goal-scorer, made it 2-0 at 10:46, when he banked a shot from behind the goal line off the side of Lundqvist's mask and into the net for No. 43.
Sheary and Hainsey got assists.
New York was awarded its first power play when Penguins defenseman Mark Streit was penalized for tripping Rangers winger Rick Nash at 18:09, and capitalized on it to pull within a goal.
Defenseman Nick Holden scored it with 26.2 seconds left in the period, as his shot from the right point deflected off Penguins penalty-killer Tom Kuhnhackl and eluded Murray.
Bryan Rust restored the Penguins' two-goal cushion at 6:46 of the third, as he took a pass from defenseman Ian Cole and beat Lundqvist from the slot for his 14th of the season.
The Rangers countered quickly, however, as Nash threw a shot past Murray from the bottom of the right circle at 8:50.
New York had a chance to pull even when Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz was penalized for interference at 12:30, but could not score.
The Rangers forced overtime, though, when Chris Kreider punched a rebound past Murray with 11.6 seconds left in regulation.
