The Rangers came into Wednesday’s night contest with a game under their belts and their legs back under them. Although they lost that game the night before, they were taking on a Penguins team who, with the exception of Malkin and Letang had not played in a game in over a week if you can count the All Star game and he Young Stars Game real “games” that is.

Even though Godard blasted Orr into a pulp off the opening draw and bought the crowd to its feet as the two fought, when Zherdev opened the scoring just 2:24 into the game, beating Fleury on the Rangers third shot it looked like it would be another long night for Penguins fans. Few certainly expected the outcome would be a 6-2 Penguins rout powered by five third period goals. But that is exactly what those in attendance witnessed.

At the end of the first period, the Penguins and the Rangers were tied at 1-1 thanks to a goal scored by Sykora (18) just a little more than four minutes after the opening marker. Fleury then held the team in the game during the second period, making several great saves as the defense collapsed around him and the Rangers peppered him with 18 shots. Also, in what seemed like a trend as of late, the Penguins also seemed unable to buy a penalty call through the first forty minutes of play. While the Pens had to kill off penalties called to Dupuis, and Talbot (twice), they could not get a Ranger to the box. But all that changed in the third period.

In that period, Rangers wore out a path to the penalty box and the Penguins found their offensive and defensive strides. They put sixteen pucks on net while only allowing eight and got goals from Staal (15), Letang (2, 3), Sykora (19) and Crosby (18) to simply bury the Rangers for the second time in two home games against them.

The win is certainly something the Penguins need who, since a horrid stretch that most of the players and the fans would like to forget, have gone 4-2-0 in their last six with their losses being an eminently winnable 2-1 loss to Carolina and a game against Washington in which the team just failed to play hard for 60 minutes and lost 6-3.

Its another good step in the right direction, but they need to keep winning to have a shot at the playoff and will need to win against New Jersey on Friday night to keep any momentum they may have.