The Penguins felt good about getting Kris Letang back last night.

Tyler Kennedy, too. And Alex Goligoski.

But the return that had the greatest impact on their 8-3 victory against the New York Rangers at Mellon Arena was not made by a guy who had been injured.

Rather, it was the re-emergence of Sidney Crosby’s volatile offensive talents, which had been — at least by his world-class standards — relatively dormant for much of this season.

Sure, Crosby had been tied for 16th place in the NHL points race before scoring three goals and setting up two others against New York, but the performance bar is set a lot higher for him than it is for most mortals.

When Penguins captain Sidney Crosby arrived at Mellon Arena yesterday morning, he learned it was Marc-Andre Fleury’s birthday. He asked the goaltender how old he was.

“He said 25,” Crosby, 22, said. “I said, ‘Geez, time flies.’”

Fleury, the first overall draft pick in 2003, is in his seventh season with the organization, yet he is still young for an established No. 1 NHL goaltender, especially one who has won a Stanley Cup.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09333/1017104-61.stm?cmpid=penguins.xml#ixzz0YFjD3IRG

Sidney Crosby got his second hat trick of the season and fourth of his career and finished with five points as the Penguins crushed the New York Rangers, 8-3, tonight at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins are 11-0-2 in their past 13 home games against Rangers.

New York took a 1-0 lead when defenseman Marc Staal — older brother of Penguins center Jordan Staal — made a slick move to get around Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski as he cut through the left circle, then extended to slip the puck past goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury at 8:50 of the first period.

It was the second tough play for Goligoski, who came back after missing six games with an unspecified injury. Earlier in the first period, Goligoski lost the puck to Rangers sniper Marian Gaborik near the blue line, and Fleury made a good save on Gaborik.

Sidney Crosby made the Penguins’ cap night giveaway at Mellon Arena an appropriate one.

Crosby had his fourth career hat trick and added two assists for his second five-point game and the Pittsburgh Penguins won for the fourth time in five games, 8-3 over the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

“It’s always fun to get the hat trick, but especially tonight it was a lot of fun,” said Crosby, who fell a point short of his career high for points. “It was pretty weird the way it worked out, but what better time to do it?”

Crosby scored once in the first and twice in the third period and added two first-period assists to help the Penguins rout the Rangers, winless in regulation at Mellon Arena in their past 13 tries.