NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers defeated the Penguins, 4-0 , at Madison Square Garden tonight.

The loss was the fifth in a row for the Penguins, who are 19-17-4 and remain ninth in the Eastern Conference standings.

New York got the only goal of the first period during a power play one minute after the opening faceoff.

Nigel Dawes got credit for it when his apparent pass from inside the left circle glanced off the skate of Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi and went between the legs of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Rangers got that power play when Penguins center Max Talbot was penalized for boarding 31 seconds into the game.

The Penguins, who did not have a man-advantage goal in their previous six games, had a five-on-three power play for 118 seconds a few minutes later, but managed only one shot on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist during that time.

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, the NHL's scoring leader, had a chance to tie the score during a two-on-zero break nine minutes into the second period, but was unable to beat Lundqvist.

Defenseman Paul Mara put New York up, 2-0, with a power-play goal at 17:27. He beat Fleury with a slap shot from the left side of the slot after Scott Gomez cleanly won a faceoff from Penguins rookie Dustin Jeffrey.

That marked the third time in four games the Penguins have allowed two power-play goals.

Chris Drury locked up the victory for New York when he beat Fleury from the slot at 12:30 of the third, and Gomez scored into an empty net at 16:49 after Fleury had been replaced by an extra skater while the Penguins were on a power play.

The Penguins, losers of five consecutive home games, will face Atlanta at 7:38 p.m. tomorrow at Mellon Arena.