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Rangers get point but fall to Penguins in overtime, 3-2

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Henrik Lundqvist watches a first period goal from Penguins' Matt Cullen trickle past him and into the net.Seth Wenig/AP

Henrik Lundqvist watches a first period goal from Penguins’ Matt Cullen trickle past him and into the net.

Eric Staal played like a man possessed Sunday night, scoring two goals alternating between wing and center on the Blueshirts’ best line with a suddenly formidable Kevin Hayes (two assists) and Jesper Fast (two assists).

Ex-Ranger Carl Hagelin (assist), who scored the goal to eliminate the Penguins last spring in Game 5 of the first round at the Garden, conversely killed the Rangers this Easter Sunday on Pittsburgh’s speed line with Phil Kessel (goal) in their final meeting of the regular season.

So this potential first-round playoff rematch preview went down to the nail-biting wire. Both teams got a point taking the game to overtime.

But Kris Letang’s point shot deflected off Sidney Crosby for a 3-2 Penguins win for the extra point with 29.5 seconds to play in OT.

The Rangers (43-24-9, 95 points), now fully healthy, sought points to fend off the third-place Penguins (42-25-8, 92 points) from the Blueshirts’ current hold on second place in the Metropolitan Division, which would give them home-ice advantage in a first-round series.

Pittsburgh, which played without regular starters Evgeni Malkin, Olli Maatta, Brian Doumolin, holds a game in hand on the Rangers as it also tries to fend off the Islanders (89 points), who sit in the first wild-card slot with a game in hand on the Pens and two on the Rangers.

They had the services of top defenseman Kris Letang, who was masterful Sunday, to counter the Rangers’ strong early start. Henrik Lundqvist and Marc-Andre Fleury dueled in their respective nets. The Penguins had won two of the team’s three meetings coming in, all since Feb. 10.

Knicks president Phil Jackson was in attendance, finally watching a playoff team at the Garden.

Eric Staal delivers two goals for the Rangers on Sunday but it's not enough to top the Penguins.Seth Wenig/AP

Eric Staal delivers two goals for the Rangers on Sunday but it’s not enough to top the Penguins.

Trading Hagelin to Anaheim for cap reasons last summer has cost the Rangers dearly this season, especially in the speed and penalty killing departments. But Sunday night’s consequence was more direct: Hagelin’s speed created both of the Penguins’ first two goals to send the game to the third period tied at two apiece.

Eric Staal ripped his second goal of the game short side at 2:07 of the second period for a 2-1 lead, off assists from Fast and Hayes, who had kept a loose puck alive through traffic in front. It marked Staal’s fifth point in 14 games as a Ranger.

Lundqvist, however, later left his net with Hagelin bearing down to play the puck and committed a terrible turnover to his Swedish countryman that led to Kessel’s game-tying goal on Hagelin’s rebound at 8:36.

Eric Staal came inches away at 13:05 from finishing a hat trick off a primary assist from his younger brother, Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, but Fleury made the save and the Hagelin-Kessel combination’s effectiveness gave the Pens slight momentum heading into the third.

Eric Staal also had opened the scoring 4:19 into the first period with his first goal in 10 games and second as a Ranger – a high-skill, one-handed finish of a nasty give-and-go feed by Hayes. Staal, playing his second straight game on left wing, fended off Pens defenseman Trevor Daley with his left arm while poking home Hayes’ saucer pass with his right.

Dan Girardi and Lundqvist started the sequence by canceling out a Matt Cullen scoring chance after a Keith Yandle turnover, and Fast then sprung Staal for his first point in six games.

Cullen lifted scrappy Pittsburgh back into a 1-1 tie by first intermission, though, deflecting a Derrick Pouliot point shot through Lundqvist’s five-hole at 15:49. Hagelin’s takeaway from J.T. Miller in the neutral zone sent the puck back into the offensive zone, where Cullen won battles with Dan Boyle and Miller and arrived unimpeded behind Derek Stepan for the tip at the net.

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