There was nothing to complain about this time. The Rangers were outworked, outhustled and outmuscled by a hungrier Pens team which did what they had to do in a 2-0 shutout at Mellon Arena Sunday, taking a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal.

Beaten to most loose pucks, the Rangers were far from better than when they blew a three-goal lead to lose Game One 5-4 on a disputed call. Even in a tighter checking game more to their preference, they didn’t perform good enough to get the split instead falling into an unenviable 0-2 hole with the series hanging in the balance when it returns to New York Tuesday.

That Jordan Staal’s power play tally was enough to break a scoreless tie with 6:05 left in the second and the Rangers doesn’t bode well. With Chris Drury off for hooking Petr Sykora, the Pens stayed with it after missing two close chances. This time, Game One hero Evgeni Malkin drew a couple of Rangers before finding just enough of a hole to get the puck to an open Staal in front, who beat Henrik Lundqvist.

While it was difficult for Lundqvist who still was splendid keeping his team in it with 30 saves, the same couldn’t be said for Pittsburgh counterpart Marc-Andre Fleury.

“We need a little more traffic (in front against Fleury),” coach Tom Renney philosophized to the Associated Press of the Pittsburgh netminder who had a walk in the park stopping all 26 Ranger shots for his second playoff shutout. “I’m not going to suggest it was really easy for him, but it certainly could have been tougher. The big thing for us is to create some momentum of our own at MSG and really take this series back.” 

When the Rangers did attack which wasn’t nearly enough against a diligent checking Pens club which trapped to perfection clogging up the neutral zone, they couldn’t get shots through and didn’t get enough traffic on Fleury despite six power plays. They had their chances but weren’t willing to pay the price.

Sure. An unfortunate break went against them when Martin Straka’s apparent tying power play goal with over four minutes left was wiped out due to a quick whistle by referee Dan O’Halloran, who thought Fleury had covered the puck. NBC replays seemed to indicate otherwise.

“I thought it was an accurate call,” Renney said. “I don’t know if it was a quick whistle or not.”

No matter. Renney’s club got a do over when Jaromir Jagr nemesis Hal Gill was sent to the box with 2:22 remaining. The Blueshirts never threatened again as a stellar Pittsburgh PK easily killed it off finishing six-for-six on the day.

Not even pulling Lundqvist for an extra attacker with less than a minute left on the man-advantage for a brief 6-on-4 manufactured anything.

Instead, Broadway failure Adam Hall banked a clear from inside his end into a vacated net from 70 feet out. Funny. He didn’t score much last year but did something his former team couldn’t. Find the back of the net.

Now the Rangers will have to do it the hard way if they want to get back in this series. They’ll have something to draw on losing the first two in Buffalo before sweeping two at MSG to square last year’s Conference Semifinal series.

There’s also this. All season, they didn’t lose to Pittsburgh on home ice.

“We just have to go back home and still feel confident, we know we can beat this team,” Lundqvist pointed out. “We have to go back home and get two wins there and come back here, and it’s going to be pressure on them.”

Win Tuesday and they’re back in it. Lose and there’s almost no realistic chance. The pressure’s on.

Notes: The Pens are now a perfect 6-0 in the playoffs having registered at least one PPG in each. … In a switch, Renney dressed forward Petr Prucha in place of Colton Orr on the fourth line. He played only 5:50 and saw just a couple of shifts with Scott Gomez and Sean Avery despite Brendan Shanahan’s continued ineffectiveness. … In series history, Pittsburgh is now 8-2 on home ice against the Rangers. … They might not have come out with a win but the Blueshirts dominated the faceoff circle winning 37 of 57. Rookie Brandon Dubinsky won 12 of 19 while Drury was 10 and four. … Game Three is Tuesday and can be seen on Versus at 7 ET.