PITTSBURGH — Evgeni Malkin is making scoring look simple lately.

With Sidney Crosby feeding him the puck, it's hardly a difficult task for the Pittsburgh Penguins' center.

Malkin scored three goals for the second time in six games, and Conklin stopped 43 shots to remain unbeaten in regulation as the Penguins beat the New York Rangers 4-1.

"It's very easy to play with someone like Crosby," Malkin said. "He's the best player in the world, and he was making such great passes, so I just have to get myself open and he will get me the puck."

Malkin, whose first NHL hat trick was Jan. 3 against Toronto also at home, has eight goals and three assists in the Penguins' last six games. The 21-year-old Russian — last season's rookie of the year — moved into a tie for sixth in the Eastern Conference in goals with 23, but wasn't named to the All-Star team.

"I'm kind of a little bit disappointed, but that means I'll have to work a little bit harder," he said.

Pittsburgh entered Monday's game looking to improve against Atlantic Division opponents. The Penguins entered only 4-10-1 against division opponents, but 21-6-2 against everyone else. They had won only two of their past 11 in the division.

"We wanted to improve that," Crosby said. "It's only one, but it's a starting point. We know we have to be stronger in that area, so we will take it for sure."

Crosby had two assists and Sergei Gonchar also scored for the Penguins, who are 9-0-1 in their last 10 and have won six in a row at home. Conklin, who has started the past 10 games, improved to 10-0-1 overall.

"It's been the same story. It's like a broken record (with Conklin)," Crosby said. "He's been so consistent and made some key saves, some big ones when we needed him to and gave us a chance to chip away."

Malkin scored 3:31 into the game when the Rangers inexplicably didn't cover him after he took the puck in the right-wing corner and skated untouched toward the net before flipping a wrist shot over the stick side of Henrik Lundqvist.

"We gave them too much space tonight," New York's Jaromir Jagr said. "We've got to play them differently. They're too young, too quick."

Crosby assisted on that goal to give him a league-high 42. The two connected again 3 minutes later to make it 2-0 on Malkin's 22nd goal. Crosby, the defending NHL scoring champion, tied Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier for the league lead with 63 points.

Pittsburgh made it 3-0 with a goal while on a two-man advantage with 3:12 left in the opening period. It took only 11 seconds for Gonchar to blast a slap shot from the point past Lundqvist.

It wasn't until midway through the third that Jagr, a former Penguin, broke up Conklin's bid for his third shutout in only 11 starts. While on the power play, Jagr took a pass from Scott Gomez behind the net, attempted a wraparound, picked up his own rebound and scored.

Malkin had a few chances for the hat trick before scoring into an empty net with 24 seconds remaining.