NEW YORK — Steve Rucchin wasn't supposed to be in Sidney Crosby's passing lane, and the 18-year-old rookie never saw him.

Much to his delight, Rucchin intercepted the puck and raced up ice to score a short-handed goal that started the New York Rangers on the way to a 3-1 victory over Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night.

"I came off the bench with a little bit of a late change," Rucchin said. "It was a fortunate bounce, but if I wasn't coming off the bench I probably would've been a lot lower."

That came just 4:05 in but Pittsburgh could do no better than one goal against Henrik Lundqvist, who made 24 saves in the 22nd win of his rookie season.

Crosby played despite being bothered by flu-like symptoms, but said other than feeling a little weak he was OK. The effects of his costly turnover seemed to affect his mood more.

"I just tried to hit (Mark) Recchi and there was a guy right in my face and I didn't see Rucchin in the middle," Crosby said. "I just tried to make a play and got picked."

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 (5-1-1).

The Rangers went 3-1-1 on their five-game 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.

"It's just frustrating to lose, that's pretty much it," Crosby said. "I thought we played better but I don't think our standard should be compared to the last game we played here. We played better than that, but it's not good."

The Penguins used the off days between games to rest and practice back in Pennsylvania. Recchi scored the tying goal during a power play with 9.4 seconds left in the opening period, but the Penguins still lost for the 13th time in 14 games (1-12-1).

"We weren't happy with the way we played Saturday and we're still not happy," forward John LeClair said.

New York edged Pittsburgh in shots 26-25. Lundqvist was bailed out a couple of times by drives that hit the posts including one off the stick of Guillaume Lefebvre 5:44 into the third period that could've tied it.

"I didn't talk to (the posts) but I will when I get to sleep. I will thank them," Lundqvist said.