Dupuis and Sykie Both Get Tricky as Pens Blowout Isles 9-2
December 12, 2008 by Paul
Filed under Features, Highlights, News
The Pittsburgh Penguins exploded for 9 goals on Thursday night as they buried the troubled New York Islanders 9-2 at Mellon Arena. Petr Sykora netted his first career hat trick after going 44 multi-goal games without one, the longest such streak in NHL history. Pascal Dupuis also cashed in on his first career hat trick, uncorking his dry spell to double his season total in just one game. Philippe Boucher, playing in his first game after missing 6 to injury, also scored for the Penguins as did Evgeni Malkin and Miroslav Satan. In all, 9-Penguins players had a multi-point night and the team collectively had a +25 rating. John Curry had another good night in net as he stopped 24 of 26 for a 0.923 save percentage.
In the 1st period, the Penguins jumped to a decisive lead as they outshot the Islanders 19-5 and outscored them 4-1 on the board. Pascal Dupuis kicked it off with his 4th goal of the season after taking a cross-ice pass from Miroslav Satan and getting off a hard blast from the top of the circle that trickled through Islanders’ netminder Joey MacDonald. Sidney Crosby followed the puck into the net for good measure. Miroslav Satan and Rob Scuderi picked up the assists on the goal at 6:25. The Islanders then got into severe penalty trouble as they took 4 sequential penalties, 3 coming in a span of less than 2-minutes to set up some 5-on-3 time for the Penguins. Playing with a 2-man advantage at 13:49, Miroslav Satan collected a cross-crease pass from Sidney Crosby and quickly moved it to his forehand to wrist it into the net to make it 2-0. Matt Cooke joined Crosby on the assist. Then at 16:54, Matt Cooke went off for a tripping call and the Islanders converted on a hard slap shot by Mark Streit through traffic. Doug Weight and Trent Hunter collected the assists on the powerplay goal. The Penguins bounced back just 11-seconds later as Petr Sykora collected a cross ice pass from Evgeni Malkin and blasted a slapper past MacDonald to make it 3-1. Ruslan Fedotenko combined with Malkin on the assists. Then at 18:19, Philippe Boucher scored his first goal as a Pittsburgh Penguin as he launched a slapshot through traffic from near the blueline that deflected off from an Islanders defender. Sidney Crosby and Miroslav Satan picked up assists on the Boucher goal. The Penguins outshot the Islanders 19-5 in the period, went 1-for-4 on the powerplay and 0-for-1 on the kill.
In the 2nd period, the Islanders started with Yann Danis in goal to replace Joey MacDonald, but he too would would soon fall prey to the hungry Penguins. At 2:12, Evgeni Malkin fed Alex Goligoski who fired a hard wrister and then Evgeni collected the juicy rebound and beat Danis from the side of the net to make it 5-1. Petr Sykora joined Goligoski on the assist as Malkin collected his 12th goal of the season. The Penguins kept rolling after Bill Guerin took a slashing penalty at 7:07, as Petr Sykora took a feed from Alex Goligoski and wristed a shot past Danis from between the circles to make it 6-1. Max Talbot collected the other assist on Sykora’s powerplay goal. Then, a few minutes later it appeared that Petr Sykora had finally scored the elusive first hat trick after 44 multi-point games as the puck was clearly poked into the net before the whistle sounded. However, the referee waved it off saying he had lost sight of it and was preparing to blow the whistle before the puck went in. The video replay showed that had it counted, it was probably scored by Ruslan Fedotenko. After receiving some condolences from his teammates, Sykora finally picked up his first career hat trick on the powerplay at 15:42 as he wristed the puck into the net from between the circles again on a laser pass from Sidney Crosby to make it 7-1. Jordan Staal joined Sidney Crosby on the assist. At 19:29, an ever-hungry Pascal Dupuis picked up his 2nd goal of the night as he came streaking into the zone late and took a beautiful wrap pass from Jordan Staal and drove it into the net. Rob Scuderi picked up the other assist as the Penguins finished the 2nd period leading 8-1. The Penguins outshot the Islanders 14-10 in the 2nd and were 2-for-4 on the powerplay and 1-for-1 on the kill.
In the 3rd period, the Penguins had to be careful as the Islanders started to get a bit chippy with the game fully out of reach. At 11:33, Evgeni Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko got into a scuffle with Andy Hilbert and they all sat 2-minutes for roughing with the Islanders getting the benefit of a powerplay. At 12:55, however, Doug Weight got called for hooking to even the advantage for some 4-on-4 play. The Islanders finally found some offense with the open ice at 13:06 as Andy Sutton found a way to beat John Curry to make it 8-2. But it was far too little, and far too late for the Islanders. At 16:48, Pascal Dupuis took a beautiful feed from Matt Cooke and drove home his 3rd goal of the night to join Petr Sykora for his first career hat trick. Brooks Orpik joined Matt Cooke on the assist, and the Penguins won the game 9-2 amid the crowd chanting “We Want 10, We Want 10!”. It was an electric night at the Mellon Arena! The Islanders ended up outshooting the Penguins in the final frame 11-5,
- VIDEO: Game Highlights
- VIDEO: Coach Therrien Post-Game Press Conference
- VIDEO: Petr Sykora Post-Game
- VIDEO: Sidney Crosby Post-Game
- VIDEO: Pascal Dupuis Post-Game
- VIDEO: John Curry Post-Game
- AUDIO: Mike Lange Highlights
- PHOTOS: In-Game Photos
- Game Rosters
- Game Summary
- Boxscore
- Shots Summary
- Faceoff Summary
- Penguins Ice-Time Report
Petr Sykora picked up 4-points (3G, 1A), while Pascal Dupuis (3G), Miroslav Satan (1G, 2A) and Sidney Crosby (3A) all had a 3-point night. Evgeni Malkin (1G, 1A), Matt Cooke (2), Alex Goligoski (2A), Jordan Staal (2A) and Rob Scuderi (2A) all had 2-points. Philippe Boucher (1G), Max Talbot (1A), Brooks Orpik (1A) and Ruslan Fedotenko (1A) each collected a point and rounded out the 13-Penguins players to find their way on to the scoresheet. Pascal Dupuis led the game with 6-shots on net, while Petr Sykora, Kris Letang, Miroslav Satan and Sidney Crosby each had 5. Evgeni Malkin fired 4 on net. Tim Wallace and Mark Eaton each connected for 3-hits. Kris Letand led all Penguins with 23:53 in ice time, while Sidney Crosby led all forwards with 21:33.
The Penguins head to Philadelphia on Saturday for a 1PM matinee game. The Flyers posted a 6-5 come from behind victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night after falling behind 5-1.
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Malkin and Crosby Loom Large in 3rd Period Comeback
November 27, 2008 by Paul
Filed under Highlights, News
In the 1st period, the Islanders got on the scoreboard with a 5-on-4 powerplay goal at 7:45 as Mike Zigomanis sat for a goaltender interference call. Hal Gill had just left the box 6-seconds prior to the goal after the Penguins managed to kill off 21-seconds of a 5-on-3. Doug Weight was credited with the goal, but the replay showed that after Dany Sabourin stopped the puck, he inadvertently kicked it into his own net as he tried to close his legs on the puck. Trent Hunter and Mark Streit picked up the assists on the play. Then, just over a minute later, Trent Hunter backhanded a goal past Dany Sabourin to make it 2-0. Hunter beat Kris Letang after taking a chip pass that landed in the feet of Letang, and then surprised Sabourin with a quick backhander. Assists were given to Andy Hilbert and Joshua Bailey. At 9:38, Eric Godard picked up a fighting major with Mitch Fritz. Fritz managed to get Godard tied up in his jersey and neither player was able to do too much damage before being sent to the box; it wasn’t enough to get the Penguins going. The Penguins were outshot 12-10 in the first and were 0-for-2 on the man advantage and 1-for-2 on the kill.
In the 2nd period, the Penguins continued to be outplayed by the Islanders as they were outshot 7-6. At 9:27 with Evgeni Malkin in the box for a high sticking penalty, the Islanders powerplay connected again as Bill Guerin beat Dany Sabourin to make it 3-0. Joshua Bailey and Mark Streit picked up the assists. After the the 3rd goal on 14-shots, Coach Michel Therrien pulled Dany Sabourin and gave rookie John Curry his NHL debut. Curry stopped all 5-shots against him in the remainder of the period. As the period wound down, defenseman Brooks Orpik stepped into a slapshot with 19-seconds left that beat the Islanders netminder Joey MacDonald and gave the Penguins something to build on as they entered the 3rd period. Pascal Dupuis picked up the lone assist on Orpiks 2nd goal of the season. The Penguins were 1-for-2 on the kill in the period and were afforded no man advantages.
In the 3rd period, Coach Michel Therrien reunited Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the Penguins’ top line. At 6:18, it paid off as Malkin fed a beautiful cross ice pass through traffic to Crosby who snapped it into the empty side of the net to beat MacDonald and make it 3-2 with plenty of time left in the game. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang picked up the assists. Then at 11:03, Sidney Crosby returned the favor as he drew 3-Islanders to the boards and fed Malkin streaking through the center of the ice. Malkin walked in unchallenged and beat MacDonald with a quick wrister to tie the game 3-3. Brooks Orpik picked up the other assist. Then, just 50-seconds later, Sidney Crosby undressed an Islanders’ defensemen who was looking to set up a play from behind his own net. Crosby stole the puck at the side of the net and looked as if he was going to shoot on MacDonald. Instead, he made a perfect blind backhanded pass to the slot. Malkin, reading the play perfectly, had jumped in from the blueline and made a diving shot that beat MacDonald 5-hole to gain the 1-goal advantage. Finally, with 18-seconds left and MacDonald pulled for the extra attacker, Evgeni Malkin completed the hat trick with his 10th goal of the season, an empty netter to seal the game 5-3. Rob Scuderi picked up the lone assist on the play. The Penguins’ domination in the 3rd period was evident in the 14-6 shot total. The Penguins were 0-for-1 on the powerplay in the final frame. John Curry stopped all 6-shots in the 3rd to pick up his first career NHL win.
- VIDEO: Game Highlights
- Game Rosters
- Game Summary
- Boxscore
- Shots Summary
- Faceoff Comparison
- Penguins Player Ice Times
Sidney Crosby led all Penguins with 5-shots on net, and had 3-points (1G, 2A). Evgeni Malkin had 4-shots and picked up 4-points (3G, 1A) to maintain his lead in the NHL points race with 35-points, 5-points ahead of 2nd place Simon Gagne. Malkin also leads the league in assists with 25, 5-ahead of 2nd place Sidney Crosby and Boston’s Marc Savard. Max Talbot was a perfect 2-for-2 on faceoffs before he left the game with an apparent foot injury after taking a hard shot to the skate. Talbot appeared unable to put any pressure on the skate as he left the ice with the help of the team trainer. Tyler Kennedy won his single apearance in the faceoff circle, while Sidney Crosby (12/28) won just 43% and Mike Zigomanis (8/19) and Jordan Staal (8/19) each won 42%. Sidney Crosby led the team with 24:39 of ice time, while Malkin registered 21:29. Amongst defensemen, Brooks Orpik led with 22:09 of ice time with Philippe Boucher following close behind with 21:43.
The Penguins will get Thanksgiving Day off before playing against Buffalo on the road on Friday evening. They will then return back to Mellon Arena to face the Devils on Saturday night.
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Malkin Gets 2nd Hat Trick; Penguins Catch Devils
Evgeni Malkin had a hat trick and Ty Conklin stopped 43 shots to power the Pittsburgh Penguins past the New York Rangers on Monday night 4-1. With the win, the Penguins have caught the New Jersey Devils in the points race for the Atlantic Division lead. Malkin picked up his 2nd career hat trick on an empty net goal late in the third to put the game out of reach for the Rangers. His first hat trick came just 11 days ago against Toronto. Ty Conklin was outstanding in net as he made a career high 43 saves to continue his torrid play and extend his record to an impressive 10-0-1. Sidney Crosby picked up 2-assists to catch Vinny Lecavalier with 63-points in a tie for the league’s scoring lead.
The game started with a fight between Georges Laraque and Colton Orr just after the puck was dropped. Laraque managed to get Orr’s helmet off as he landed several punches, but lost his footing and went down along the boards to end the scrap a bit prematurely. After the fight, the 1st period belonged to the Penguins as they put up 3-goals, including 2 on the power play, despite being outshot 14-12. The first goal came at 3:31 on the power play as Ryan Malone created space along the wall and in front of the net for Evgeni Malkin to walk out and put the puck into the corner of the net over Henrik Lundqvist’s shoulder. Sidney Crosby and Sergei Gonchar were credited with the assists, but kudos go to Ryan Malone for the double pick to create room for Malkin to maneuver. Just 3-minutes later at even strength, Sidney Crosby took a pass from Rob Scuderi and used his impressive speed to split the Rangers’ defense and put the puck on net. Lundqvist made the stop, but gave up a small rebound that Evgeni Malkin buried into the back of the net with authority for his 2nd of the night. At 16:48, Sergei Gonchar scored his 8th of the season on a 5-on-3 power play blast from the blueline to make it 3-0. The Penguins were 2-for-4 on the man advantage and killed off their only shorthanded situation as Jarkko Ruutu sat for hooking.
In the 2nd, it was all Ty Conklin as he stopped a 17-shot domination by the Rangers to keep the score 3-0, whil ethe Penguins managed just 2-shots in the period. The Penguins were perfect on the penalty kill, however, going 3-for-3 on the kill while Letang sat for tripping, Staal for hooking and Malkin for holding.
In the 3rd, the Rangers finally found the back of the net at 9:16 on a power play goal by Jaromir Jagr. Scott Gomez and Paul Mara got the assists. But Ty Conklin shut the door on the other 12-shots mustered by the Rangers in the period and Evgeni Malkin completed the hat trick on an empty net goal at 19:36, his 23rd goal of the season.
The Penguins win improved their record to 26-16-3 and 55-points to tie the New Jersey Devils (26-15-3) for the Atlantic Division lead. Sidney Crosby’s 2-points (2A) increased his league lead in assists (43) and extended his points total to 63 to tie for the league lead in points. The Penguins are now 9-0-1 in their last 10 games and they have won 6 in a row at home. The win was just their 5th against a division rival, improving their Atlantic Division record to 5-10-1.
- VIDEO: Video Highlights
- PHOTOS: In-Game Photos
- AUDIO: Post-Game Hotline
- NHL OFFICIAL: Game Rosters
- NHL OFFICIAL: Game Summary
- NHL OFFICIAL: Boxscore
- NHL OFFICIAL: Play-by-Play
The Pittsburgh Penguins will enjoy a few days off before hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, January 18th.
Malkin’s 1st Hat Trick Powers Pens Past Leafs 6-2
The Pittsburgh Penguins lit the lamp 6-times, with 3 goals coming in just 48-seconds of the 3rd, to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2 on Thursday night. Evgeni Malkin picked up his 1st career hat trick and Ty Conklin won his 6th straight game with the Penguins to advance his record to 6-0 on the season. The win advances to the Penguins record to 22-16-2, an amazing 14-5-0 since Thanksgiving when they beat the Ottawa Senators in overtime and ignited a turnaround to their season.
In the 1st period, the Maple Leafs outskated and outshot the Penguins 11-4 but finished the period up just 1-0. It could have easily been 2-0, or more, but Erik Christensen managed to make an outstanding play to prevent the puck from completely crossing the goal line early in the period. After the puck trickled behind Conklin, Christensen swept it out as it was crossing the goal line. The call went upstairs and the video replay showed that the puck got about 7/8 of the way across the goal line before Christensen cleared it out. Since the puck did not fully cross the line, the play was appropriately ruled a no-goal by the on-ice offical and the subsequent video review. Midway through the period, however, the Leafs got the puck past Ty Conklin on a goal by Jason Blake from the side of the net to make it 1-0. Mats Sundin and Alex Steen were credited with the assists. Pittsburgh, looking like it had a little Winter Classic hangover, was 0-for-1 on the power play, and successfully killed off 2 power plays as Kennedy (slashing) and Sykora (hooking) sat.
In the 2nd, the Penguins came alive and tied it up early on a goal by Erik Christensen at 1:24. Christensen, who played his best game of the season, put the goal in on a beautiful wrap-around that beat Leafs’ tender Scott Clemmensen on the glove side. Petr Sykora and Jarkko Ruutu picked up the assists. Shortly after the goal, Darcy Tucker tried to goad Christensen into a scuffle, but Christensen smartly skated away. Answering the call at 9:33 was Jarkko Ruutu who schooled the more experienced fighter Tucker in one of the best fights I have seen in a long time. Ruutu landed repeated blows to Tucker’s head, resulting in a gash above Tucker’s eye. Less than 5-minutes later, while Tucker and Ruutu still sat, Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the night by chipping in the rebound on an incredible spinning backhand shot by Sidney Crosby. Working the puck along the boards, Colby Armstrong picked up the other assist by getting the puck to Sidney Crosby in the middle of the ice. Crosby quickly spun to his backhand to evade a Leafs’ defenseman and powered the puck in on Clemmensen, where Malkin chipped in the rebound. The Penguins outshot the Leafs 11-9 in the 2nd, and were 0-for-1 on the power play and perfect in killing off a late penalty to Darryl Sydor (high sticking).
In the 3rd, the Penguins exploded for 3-quick even strength goals and then added a 4th on the power play late in the period. The first goal came on a tremendous play by rookie Tyler Kennedy. After Kennedy made a play to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Jordan Staal used his long reach to spoil another clearing attempt by the Leafs as he tapped the puck back to Kennedy. Kennedy let off a slapshot that Clemmensen saved, but picked up a big juicy rebound and then maneuvered away from a Leafs’ defender before throwing the puck into the net on the backhand as he was falling down at 3:00. Then, just 37 seconds later, Sidney Crosby took a pass from Kris Letang and took off up ice with Evgeni Malkin. Malkin drove the net as 3 Leafs players closed in on Crosby. Crosby made a nice backhand pass through the Leafs players and onto the stick of Malkin who lifted it over Clemmensen for his 2nd of the night, making it 4-1. Then, just 11 seconds later, the Penguins widened the margin to 4-goals as Petr Sykora took advantage of a mis-play by the Leaf’s defensemen backing up in their own zone to make it 5-1. Jarkko Ruutu and Brooks Orpik were credited with the assists. At 12:53, the Leafs got one back on the power play off from the stick of Pavel Kubina as Sergei Gonchar sat for hooking. The assists went Tomas Kaberle and Mats Sundin. At 16:38, the Leafs picked up a double-minor high sticking call by Andrew Wozniewski on Adam Hall that put them short-handed for the remainder of the tilt. That was all the Penguins needed to get Evgeni Malkin his 1st career hat trick as he scored at 15:28 on a beautiful passing play between himself, Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney. Working from behind the net, Crosby passed the puck to Malkin, who deflected the puck with his stick between his legs out to Gonchar on the point. Gonchar passed the puck to Whitney on the sideboards, who then threw the puck cross-ice back to Malkin who let the one-timer go from his knee to beat the goaltender and complete the hat trick, winning the game 6-2. Despite the lopsided scoring in the 3rd, the Leafs outshot the Penguins 15-9.
- VIDEO: Game Highlights
- VIDEO: Post-Game Press Conference w/Coach Therrien
- VIDEO: Post-Game Locker Room
- PHOTOS: In-Game Photos
- AUDIO: Mike Lange Highlights
- AUDIO: Post-Game Rink Rat Report
- AUDIO: Post-Game Hotline
- NHL OFFICIAL: Game Rosters
- NHL OFFICIAL: Game Summary
- NHL OFFICIAL: Boxscore
- NHL OFFICIAL: Play-by-Play
The Penguins ended up scoring 6-goals on 24-shots, and Ty Conklin let in just 2-goals on 35-shots to get the game’s 2nd star. Malkin got the hat trick and the game’s 1st star. Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar and Jarkko Ruutu each picked up 2-assists, with Ruutu getting the game’s 3rd star. Colby Armstrong (1A) picked up his 7th point in 5-games. Petr Sykora (1G, 1A) got back on the scorecard, as did Erik Christensen (1G), Jordan Staal (1A), Kris Letang (1A), Orpik (1A) and Whitney (1A). Erik Christensen gets the unsung hero of the night for his inspired play, both offensively and defensively.
The Penguins host the Florida Panthers at Mellon Arena at 3:00PM on Saturday. Please note that the game time has been moved up 4 hours from the original schedule.
