Penguins shut out Rangers behind Fleury''s 33 saves

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pittsburgh Penguins shut out the visiting New York Rangers 3-0 on Sunday as captain Sidney Crosby returned to the line-up.

Marc-Andre Fleury had 33 stops and Petr Sykora collected a goal and an assist in the Atlantic Division meeting.

The win moved the Penguins into eighth place in the Eastern Conference and increased their chances of a playoff spot.

"I thought the guys did a great job in not giving them too many scoring chances," Fleury told reporters after his second shutout of the season and the 13th of his career. "We got some turnovers, good chances, and we got some goals early."

Crosby, who missed Friday''s 3-1 victory over Anaheim with an apparent knee injury, failed on a penalty shot in the second period after being tripped from behind. His forehand shot ended up in the pads of Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist.

"It (the knee) felt pretty good," Crosby told reporters. "I hope it gets better."

The fourth-placed Penguins won back-to-back games for the first time since November 15 and ended a four-game losing streak to the division-leading Rangers.

Chris Minard and Tyler Kennedy collected first-period goals for Pittsburgh with Sykora scoring on a power play in the second.

Minard, a minor leaguer called up to fill in for the Penguins, scored his first goal of the season 7:35 into the game and Kennedy collected his first goal at Mellon Arena in 31 games about eight minutes later.

Sykora, who had an assist on Minard''s goal, recorded his 17th goal of the year by beating Lundqvist on the stick side at 7:32 of the second.

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Wilson, North Carolina; Editing by Miles Evans)