PITTSBURGH -Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to close within three points of becoming the youngest player to have a 100-point season in the NHL, and the Pittsburgh Penguins further stalled the Rangers’ bid to win their first division title since 1994 with a 5-3 victory last night.

The Rangers stayed three points ahead of the Flyers, who lost 4-1 to the Devils, in an Atlantic Division race that could be decided when the teams play Saturday in Philadelphia. But until they tried to rally from a 4-1 deficit in the third period with two scores, the Rangers didn’t look like a team desperate to wrap up the division as they lost their third in a row.

The Penguins, last in the NHL overall standings, had won a league-low 20 games and only 10 at home before rookie Colby Armstrong had two goals and an assist and Sergei Gonchar continued his strong late-season play with a goal and an assist.Armstrong also set up Crosby’s 38th of the season to put the Penguins ahead 2-1 early in the second. Gonchar scored his 11th on a power play in the second and assisted on Michel Ouellet’s 14th goal.

Crosby had two or more points for the eighth time in 10 games and, with three games left, must average slightly more than one point per game to join Dale Hawerchuk as the only 18-year-olds to score 100 points in an NHL season. Hawerchuk had 103 points for the Winnipeg Jets in the 1982-83 season, when he was 100 days older than Crosby is now.

Jaromir Jagr added to his Rangers team record by getting his 54th goal and league-high 122nd point midway through the first to put the Rangers up 1-0. But despite getting seven goals and four assists in the season series against Pittsburgh, Jagr was quiet the rest of the game.