PITTSBURGH – It was a long night for the Rangers – and Henrik Lundqvist.

Petr Sykora and Kris Letang each had two goals, and Sidney Crosby got back into action with a goal and two assists in the Penguins’ 6-2 victory over the Rangers last night.

Jordan Staal added a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who weren’t sure if Crosby would play until the morning skate. He missed last weekend’s All-Star game because of a sore knee. Pittsburgh scored five goals in the third period against All-Star goalie Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves) to break open a 1-1 game.

“I just played terrible,” Lundqvist said. “I can’t explain it. . . . I just lost my game in the third, totally, and that’s definitely not good enough.”

NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin added two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots for Pittsburgh, which also beat the Rangers at home on Jan. 18.

Nikolai Zherdev and Marc Staal scored for the Rangers, 5-2-1 in their past eight games.

Crosby injured his knee on Jan. 14 against Washington, causing him to miss the following game. He played the next two, but when the knee didn’t improve, he sat out the All-Star game and skills contest – but was in Montreal for the event. Crosby said on Monday he was not in game condition.

He assisted on third-period goals by Letang and Sykora and closed out the scoring with his 18th goal, a pretty no-look backhander that beat Lundqvist high to the glove side with 1:40 left.

After Zherdev gave the Rangers the lead with his 13th goal just 2:24 in, the Penguins scored four straight.

Right wing Ryan Callahan missed his first game this season. He sat out because of the flu.

Penguins 6 Rangers 2