Steve Rucchin turned Sidney Crosby’s early turnover into a short-handed goal and Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves to lead the Rangers to another victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 last night.

Crosby, playing despite being both ered by flu-like symptoms, had his pass at the New York blue line intercepted by Rucchin, who skated in alone and scored on Marc-Andre Fleury just 4:05 into the game.

Michal Rozsival snapped a 1-1 tie in the second period, and Petr Sykora added a power-play goal in the third for the Rangers, who defeated Pittsburgh at home for the second time in five days and for the fifth time this season.

The Rangers went 3-1-1 on their fivegame homestand that included a 7-1 thrashing of the Penguins on Saturday. New York embarrassed Pittsburgh in that one with a 51-14 shots advantage.

The Penguins were much better in the rematch, using the off days between the games to rest and practice back in Pennsylvania. Mark Recchi scored the tying goal during a power play with 9.4 seconds left in the opening period, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Penguins from losing for the 13th time in 14 games.

New York edged Pittsburgh in shots 26-25.

Rucchin got the scoring started while teammate Marcel Hossa was serving a hooking penalty. Crosby tried to slide a pass to the center of the blue line from the right-wing boards, but Rucchin got in the way and brought the puck up ice. He made a short move to his right, then cut back left to get around Fleury’s right pad and deposit his 10th goal behind him.

Recchi got the Penguins even before the end of the first period by taking the puck from Fleury and weaving all the way through the Rangers defense before beating Lundqvist for his 18th goal.

Unlike Saturday, Pittsburgh held a 9-7 shots advantage after one period and only trailed 19-18 following 40 minutes. In the previous drubbing, the Penguins were outshot 30-8 through two periods.

Rozsival made it 2-1 with his fourth of the season on the power play at 10:33 of the second. Sykora sealed the win with the Rangers’ third special-teams goal of the night – with an assist from Rucchin – knocking in a loose puck from in front 9:51 into the third.

The Rangers squandered a twogoal, third period lead against Philadelphia Monday before losing 3-2 in overtime to the team they trail by two points in the Atlantic Division. But they made sure to protect a similar advantage against Pittsburgh, which fell to 12-31-10 – the worst mark in the Eastern Conference.

***

In East Rutherord, N.J., Zach Parise, Grant Marshall, and Jamie Langenbrunner scored first-period goals as the Devils held off the Ottawa Senators 5-3 last night to end a two-game skid. Parise’s score ended a Devils’ record span of 1:54:05 without a goal.

Sergei Brylin and Eric Rasmussen also scored for the Devils, and Martin Brodeur made 27 saves.

Antoine Vermette, Dany Heatley, and Patrick Eaves scored for the Northeast Division-leading Senators, who lost their second straight game.

The Devils expect their first home sellout of the season on Friday when they retire former captain Scott Stevens’s no. 4.