NEW YORK — A handful of hours before he opened the 15th postseason of his nonpareil career, Sidney Crosby took a moment to recognize the significance of the venue he was in on Tuesday morning.

Madison Square Garden.

Supposedly, the world’s most famous arena.

Perhaps the world’s most famous hockey player has enjoyed a productive run on Broadway (or West 31st Street, to be precise). In 39 career regular-season road games at Madison Square Garden, Crosby has generated 40 points (15 goals, 25 assists).

And in 10 postseason contests under this iconic roof, he has 11 points (five goals, six assists).

It’s a really cool place. And Crosby enjoys it.

But he’s not getting caught up in the romance of another heated confrontation with the New York Rangers in their barn.

“I tend not to think about other games much when I come in here,” Crosby said in the cafeteria-turned-temporary media conference room of Madison Square Garden before Game 1 of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round postseason series. “It’s always a challenge coming in here. The crowd is into it, a loud building. It’s a special place. You get up for those games. But I think I just approach each game the same way. I don’t really think of the other ones I played necessarily. I think about the one in front of me.”

Crosby held court with media Tuesday and discussed a number of subjects.

• Conventional wisdom suggests winning Game 1 of any series is a good development. History says that, too, as teams that win Game 1 of a best-of-seven series have a record of 499-228 in winning the series.

“The statistics say it’s pretty important,” Crosby said. “But I think you just want to always get off to a good start. Regardless of the series and the opponent, I think you want to feel good about your game and get that first win. That’s how you look at it.”

• Even with his team dropping three of four regular-season meetings against the Rangers, Crosby doesn’t see much separating the squads.

“Both teams play pretty similar,” Crosby said. “Both rely on their speed, like to get (the defensemen) involved in the offense, too. It just comes down to execution I think at this point. I don’t think you need to reinvent the wheel. We believe in our game. I’m sure they believe in theirs.

• The Penguins’ power play largely struggled in April with a conversion rate of only 6.5%. Crosby is confident his squad can turn those fortunes around now that the calendar has turned to May.

“It’s a whole new game when you’re talking about the playoffs and adjustments and things like that,” Crosby said. “It’s not so much your percentage as much as it’s the timing of the goals. I don’t have a great explanation for April, but I think both teams will try to make adjustments as the series goes on. Whoever does the better job of that and executing, (that) will be the difference. But we’ve shown that we can be a productive power play, and we’ll try to help as being a difference-maker that way.”

• The postseason opened Monday, and a number of penalties were called in the four games played elsewhere throughout the league. Crosby suggested that was intentional and not organic.

“(The officials are) probably just trying to establish everything,” Crosby said. “Sometimes, that happens in a series just as far as establishing a standard. We’ll see what happens. Ideally, we’d like to stay out of the box as much as we can.”

• Crosby doesn’t see any changes in goaltender Casey DeSmith as he approaches his first career NHL postseason game.

“He looks pretty similar,” Crosby said. “He’s out there trying to stop the puck. I don’t see any difference as far as how he’s approaching it. He’s seen a lot of action lately. He’s confident in his game, we’re confident in him. He’s been great. He’s just got to go out there and do the same thing.”

Notes:

• Injured Penguins forward Jason Zucker participated in Tuesday’s optional morning skate. He missed the regular-season finale — a 5-3 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday — because of an undisclosed injury.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan indicated Zucker has not been cleared for contact. Sullivan ruled Zucker out for Game 1 but stopped short of ruling him out for Game 2 on Thursday.

• In addition to Zucker and DeSmith, those who participated in the optional morning skate included defensemen Nathan Beaulieu, Mark Friedman, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel, forward Evgeni Malkin and goaltender Louis Domingue.

• The Rangers did not hold a morning skate.

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