Rangers 5, Penguins 2: All-Star Rick Nash scored twice to seize a share of the league lead in goals with 28 and Derek Stepan also added a pair of tallies as visiting New York won for the 15th time in 18 games.

Derick Brassard collected a goal and an assist for the Rangers, who improved to 3-0-1 against Pittsburgh this season and moved within two points of the second-place Penguins in the Metropolitan Division. Martin St. Louis and Chris Kreider each notched two assists while Henrik Lundqvist finished with 32 saves to move to 13-2-0 in his last 15 starts and 11-3-1 on the road this season.

David Perron scored and set up captain Sidney Crosby's power-play tally for the Penguins, who have dropped four of their last six (2-3-1) to remain three points behind the first-place New York Islanders. All-Star Marc-Andre Fleury yielded four goals on 17 shots before being replaced early in the second period by Thomas Greiss, who finished with 13 saves.

The Rangers jumped out of the blocks in a hurry as Brandon Sutter misfired on a diagonal pass to defenseman Kris Letang (two assists) in the offensive end, allowing Nash to skate in and beat Fleury inside the left post 26 seconds into the contest. Brassard benefited from a fortunate carom off defenseman Kevin Klein's shot from the point by scoring from the slot at 6:08 of the first period to double the advantage.

Crosby converted at the right doorstep exactly nine minutes later, but Nash netted his second of the contest at 2:39 of the middle session as his wrist shot deflected off the stick of Pittsburgh defenseman Rob Scuderi before fluttering over Fleury. Stepan sandwiched goals around Perron's 10th tally, with his first - during a power play - chasing Fleury at 5:34 of the second and the latter capping the scoring 6:15 into the third.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Brassard extended his regular-season point streak against Pittsburgh to eight games. He has recorded four goals and five assists during the run. ... Perron has notched seven points (five goals, two assists) in six games since being acquired from Edmonton. ... Stepan has recorded five multi-point performances in his last 10 contests.