Rangers drop their third straight with loss to Penguins

PITTSBURGH — So far, 2018 has not been very promising for the Rangers.

The undermanned Blueshirts dropped their third straight and fourth in their last five on Sunday night, falling to the Penguins, 5-2.

The Rangers haven’t won since beating the Sabres, 3-2, in overtime in the Winter Classic at Citi Field on New Year’s Day. They had lost to the Islanders, 7-2, on Saturday.

Playing without three injured regulars — Chris Kreider, Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Hayes — the Rangers, despite Henrik Lundqvist’s 42 saves, remained at 49 points and fell to 7-9-2 away from Madison Square Garden.

“In my mind, it’s not a couple games. In this past month, I think the level is just not high enough. You almost get tired of sitting here trying to find the right thing to say,” Lundqvist said. “This was a step in the right direction, we had more energy, but it comes down to awareness, just being on your toes. We have to come together and start playing our best hockey if we want to stay in the race.”

The Penguins (24-19-3), who outshot the Rangers 47-28, won their fourth straight and passed the Blueshirts in the standings with 51 points. The Rangers currently hold the last wild-card spot, one point ahead of the Islanders, Flyers and Hurricanes.

The Penguins nearly took a 4-2 lead at 5:16 of the third period. With Riley Sheahan and Rangers defenseman Steven Kampfer battling in the crease, the puck and Lundqvist, who was on his back, were pushed across the goal line. He protested, a review ruled that the puck went in because of a “distinct kicking motion” by Sheahan, and the goal was waved off.

But the Rangers, with just 15 goals in the last nine games, could not find the equalizer and Sidney Crosby scored his 17th goal with a stick-side wrister at 12:33. Former Ranger Carl Hagelin scored an empty-net goal with 1:59 left.

“We needed to try and duplicate what we did in the first period, when we had good energy, a couple of good looks . . . but we weren’t able to sustain it,’’ Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “Those two penalties at the beginning of the second led to momentum on their part and we were never really able to recover. They came at us with a lot of speed and we weren’t able to handle it.”

The Rangers led 2-1 after the first period on goals by Michael Grabner and Brendan Smith (his first of the season), but the Penguins struck twice in 75 seconds to re-energize the crowd at PPG Paints Arena.

Lundqvist kicked out a screened shot, but Dominik Simon buried the rebound for his first NHL goal, forging a 2-2 tie at 13:15. Just 1:15 later, Phil Kessel’s 20th — a short-side sizzler between Lundqvist and the right post — put the Penguins ahead 3-2.

In the first period, Grabner sticked the puck away from Evgeni Malkin in the Rangers’ zone and sped up ice. He went to his backhand and lifted the puck over goalie Tristan Jarry’s glove at 15:17 to tie it at 1-1. The goal was Grabner’s team-leading 19th.

Later in the period, Paul Carey won a battle behind the net and, from his knees, swept a pass to Vinni Lettieri in the corner. Smith called for the puck from the left circle and his one-timer bounced off Jarry’s arm and in with 53.4 seconds left to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.