NEW YORK -- The Pittsburgh Penguins evened the series 1-1 with a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. The series now shifts to Pittsburgh for Games 3 and 4.
What it means: We have ourselves a series, folks. And more importantly, Sidney Crosby is looking like himself again. No. 87 had a masterful performance, tallying two goals to help lead the Pens past their Metropolitan Division foes despite another undisciplined effort by Pittsburgh. That's a scary thing for the Rangers, especially considering their trouble making the Pens pay on the power play. New York has converted only two of 12 power plays this series, and Pittsburgh's penalty-killing unit seems to be only gaining confidence. It helps that their best penalty killer, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, has been on point. Fleury came up huge for the Pens while under siege in Game 2.
He's back: C'mon, did you really think Crosby was going to stay quiet this series? He was held off the score sheet in Game 1 and the critics came out in full force, wondering what was troubling the team's most dynamic offensive threat. Well, he seems to be doing just fine. Crosby delivered a huge two-goal second period and a fine effort overall in the team's Game 2 victory. Perhaps being reunited with regular linemate Chris Kunitz did him some good. Penguins coach Mike Johnston put Kunitz back on a line with Crosby and Patric Hornqvist, though he had Daniel Winnik in that spot Thursday night.
Surging Sutter: Third-line center Brandon Sutter showed some surprising speed, particularly in the second period, when he blew past a Rangers defender and rang a short-handed shot attempt off the post. Sutter had better luck later in the period, when he fired a loose puck from the hash marks past Henrik Lundqvist to knot the score at 1 at 10:01 of the frame. Sutter has really come on at the right time for the Penguins. He recorded a pair of goals in the Penguins' critical season finale and notched an all-important one Saturday night. The 26-year-old now has nine goals in the last 18 games.
Power outage: Granted, there were at least a few shaky calls on the ice Saturday night, but the Penguins' lack of discipline remains a concern, as the Pens gave the Rangers a whopping seven power plays. The Rangers' early struggles on the man advantage prevented the Penguins from suffering -- New York was 0-for-5 during the first 40 minutes, and the Penguins seemed to siphon some of that momentum with each successful penalty kill. Eventually, the sloppy play came back to bite the Pens in the third, though, when Derick Brassard notched his second goal of the series to pull the Rangers to within one goal.
What's next?: Game 3, Penguins vs. Rangers, Monday, 7 p.m. ET at Consol Energy Center.