Penguins 4 - Rangers 3 (SO): Sid's the Shootout Star!

Go figure...Sidney can't score a goal in a real game these days, but suddenly's he found the touch in the shootout.

Sidney went pointless with 4 shots on goal in 22:30 of ice time. Poor Sid continues to be snakebit, but is still holding onto the NHL's scoring lead as we enter the final stretch.

Recap from Yahoo! Sports:

The New York Rangers' potent power play is suddenly producing goals for and against the desperate team.

Pittsburgh erased a two-goal deficit with back-to-back short-handed goals by NHL leader Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong, and forced overtime with defenseman Sergei Gonchar's goal with six minutes left in regulation.

That set the stage for Sidney Crosby to give the Penguins a 4-3 shootout victory over the Rangers on Thursday night.

"We got some big plays, especially in the penalty kills," Crosby said of the Penguins, who killed three of four power plays and netted two goals of their own.

Crosby won it with just his second shootout goal in 10 tries. The 19-year-old phenom was the last of six shooters and he squeezed a drive between Henrik Lundqvist's pads.

Lundqvist was sharp for the first two periods, making 18 saves after a shutout in his last outing. But he was touched for three goals on 13 shots in the final frame of regulation in his 19th consecutive start.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in his second straight strong outing following a benching. He then turned aside Michael Nylander, Jaromir Jagr and Petr Prucha in the shootout. Nylander and Jagr had both scored in regulation for the Rangers, 2-3-2 in their past seven, as they try to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Jagr nearly scored in the shootout, but fell to 0-for-4 this season when Fleury stopped him with his pads. The Rangers captain was roundly criticized for declining to take part in the tiebreaker against New Jersey on Feb. 22 when New York lost.

With injuries to Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka, Jagr needed to be in the Rangers' first three shooters

"I would do anything for this team to win," Jagr said. "I didn't feel very comfortable doing that ... I knew other guys were better than me. Now I had no choice to go. I wanted to go. I knew I was going to go."

Blair Betts scored his first power-play goal since Oct. 14, 2003, to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead, but Lundqvist -- who made 30 saves -- couldn't protect it.

He made a key error when he left the crease to block a dump-in by Pittsburgh. Armstrong got to the loose puck and banked it off Lundqvist.

"Mine was just lucky," Armstrong said.