It has been a long time since Chris Kunitz felt this good.

Sometime last fall, probably.

Before the pain in his abdomen started. Before he realized that a muscle there had been damaged badly enough that surgery was the only practical solution.

Kunitz still isn't quite 100 percent -- the Penguins' 3-1 victory Wednesday night against the New York Islanders was just his second back in the lineup -- but he doesn't look that far from it, either.

The layoff certainly wasn't evident Wednesday night, when he complemented his usual strong physical game -- he tied for the team lead with three hits -- by scoring the Penguins' first and third goals.

Perhaps Kunitz won't make a habit of getting goals by the pair, but now that he's closing in on full health, odds are he'll be a lot more visible than he was for much of the first three months of the season.

"That's what you're going to see from him every night," said linemate Sidney Crosby. "He battles, he plays hard and he's got a scoring touch, so he's dangerous when he gets it around the net.

"He's not afraid to go to the net and because of that, he can have success a lot of different ways."

The victory lifted the Penguins (36-22-2) within a point of first-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division. The Devils, who lost to Philadelphia, 3-2, in overtime Wednesday night, have played one game fewer than the Penguins but are just 2-5-2 in their past nine.

"Obviously, we don't have many games to play, so we need all the points we can get right now," defenseman Kris Letang said.

The weather did not prevent the game from attracting a crowd of 16,980, extending the Penguins' sellout streak to 147 games. That figure was the total of tickets in circulation; team officials estimated the actual turnout at about 13,500.

Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 12 saves during the opening period and his Islanders counterpart, Dwayne Roloson, turned in nine, but the best stop of those 20 minutes came from Letang.

Just a little more than 10 1/2 minutes into the game, New York winger Matt Moulson tossed a backhander toward a largely open net, only to see Letang lunge and smother the puck before it got close to the goal line.

"I saw the open net, so I just dove," Letang said. "[Fleury] has saved my [rear] the majority of the time, so I just wanted to give it back to him. We're a team, so we help each other."

Letang picked up a delay-of-game minor for his trouble, but that was offset by the slashing minor Islanders center John Tavares received for smacking him in the face while trying to dig the puck loose.

The Islanders had the only power play of the period when Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik was sent off for interference with four minutes to go before the intermission, but were unable to capitalize.

New York had a two-man advantage for 48 seconds as the middle of the second period approached, but again failed to take advantage.

This time, the Penguins scored just 10 seconds after returning to full strength.

Kunitz got the goal, his seventh of the season, at 10:33, beating Roloson with a wrist shot from just above the left dot. Assists went to Evgeni Malkin, whose drop pass to Kunitz had been broken up by New York defenseman Mark Streit, and Orpik.

That assist stretched Malkin's scoring streak to a season-high 11 games, but was not his only point of the period.

With just three minutes remaining, Malkin deflected in a Sergei Gonchar shot during a four-on-four for his 21st goal of the season and what proved to be the winner. Mark Eaton got the second assist.

Fleury lost a chance for his first shutout in 54 games at 9:38 of the final period, when Frans Neilsen of the Islanders found himself alone in front of the net because of a blown defensive assignment and, after taking a pass from defenseman Bruno Gervais, tossed a backhander past Fleury's outstretched left leg.

That goal rejuvenated the Islanders, but Kunitz snuffed their comeback with his second of the game at 14:48.

He was put down the slot alone by linemate Bill Guerin's pass and stuck a shot between Roloson's legs to restore the Penguins' two-goal advantage and assure they'd escape their minor 0-1-1 skid.

"It's nice to get the momentum going forward again," Kunitz said. "Overall, it's just a good feeling to get the two points."

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.