PITTSBURGH _ The Penguins' high-powered offense has returned.
At the perfect time, too.
The Penguins kicked off a five-game run of Metropolitan Division games with a 7-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.
Seven different players scored goals, as the Penguins (21-7-5) snapped a two-game losing streak.
They had scored 39 goals in seven games before last Friday. In two games over the weekend, the Penguins amassed just one goal.
Tuesday's result came after coach Mike Sullivan shuffled his top six, putting Bryan Rust with Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary and Patric Hornqvist with Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin.
Crosby, Rust, Malkin and Hornqvist scored along with Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino and Justin Schultz.
Malkin was flying for much of the night and led all scorers with three points after also recording a pair of primary assists.
Matt Murray stopped 25 of 27 shots to improve to 11-0-2 in his last 13 starts at home, 6-0-1 in his last seven starts overall.
Dating back to 2015-16, the Penguins are 25-8-1 in their last 34 games against Metropolitan Division clubs.
After Michael Grabner finally capitalized on several scoring chances throughout the game and beat Murray blocker side at 1:52 of the third period, Schultz and Rust responded with goals 2:01 apart.
Schultz banked a shot of Ryan McDonagh, who was engaged by Patric Hornqvist, and Rust stuck his stick out to deflect a hard shot from Crosby.
Patric Hornqvist got his first goal in nine games later in the period once the outcome was long decided.
The seven goals were the Penguins' most since putting up seven eight days ago against Arizona. It's the 10th time in the last 14 games they've scored four or more.
Malkin and Kessel scored in the middle period to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead after two.
Malkin's came at even-strength when he blasted a pass from Chris Kunitz in the high slot at 4:43. Kessel shot off balance and beat Antti Raanta low, the puck crossing the goal line by a hair at 8:53.
Crosby gave the Penguins an early lead with his 22nd goal of the season at 5:45 of the first period when he redirected an Ian Cole point shot from the slot.
The power-play goal snapped a three-game goal drought for Crosby, his longest of the season thus far.
Matt Puempel answered with a fluky goal at 16:59 of the first. Murray couldn't corral Puempel's shot from the top of the left circle, and the puck trickled in for one Murray would like to have back.
The Penguins dominated possession for much of the opening period. They had 33 shot attempts to just 17 for the Rangers and held a 22-9 edge in shots on goal. Crosby had five shots on goal in the first period alone.
