The Penguins are in no position to be picky about how they get their goals these days.

Outside of offensive talents Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, most of their forwards seemingly have developed holes in their stick blades and allergies to points.

---

Scouting Report

• Matchup: Penguins vs. New York Rangers, 7:38 p.m. today, Mellon Arena.
• TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WXDX-FM (105.9).
• Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Henrik Lundqvist for Rangers.
• Penguins: Are 1-1 vs. Rangers. ... Are 2-5 in a stretch of nine games vs. Atlantic teams. ... C Sidney Crosby has points in 11 consecutive home games, dating to last season.
• Rangers: Have won four games in a row, eight of nine to claim share of Atlantic Division lead. ... LW Brendan Shanahan has 6 goals on his past 63 shots after getting none on his first 39.
• Hidden stat: Although the Penguins have scored on the power play in every game but one, they have scored more than one power-play goal just twice.

---

Six goals by forwards with other names -- four at even strength -- over the past dozen games is not a winning formula, which is a big reason the team is 4-7-1 in that span.

Still, it surely would be difficult to find anyone who would have predicted the guy who stepped out of the mold Thursday night to score the winner as the Penguins beat the New York Islanders, 3-2, to snap a four-game losing streak.

Predicted it, no. Expected it, certainly not.

But not everyone was surprised by it.

"If you look at my stats every year, I've always taken pride that of all the tough guys, I'm right up there in points," hulking winger Georges Laraque said after practice yesterday at Mellon Arena.

"Every year, I manage to get 15 or 20 points, but my role is primarily being physical, so no one's going to pressure me on scoring goals. I take pride in the fact that I can sometimes."

Crosby took care of the fancy half of the play in the second period, dancing with the puck in the left circle before sending a pinpoint pass through traffic to Laraque on the far side of the slot. Laraque lofted a shot over goaltender Rick DiPietro to break a 2-2 tie.

"I didn't shoot it right away. I waited until [DiPietro] slid across and I put it over his shoulder," Laraque explained, not sounding like someone who had not scored a goal in his past 39 games, dating to Jan. 17, more than a month before Phoenix traded him to the Penguins.

For the first time with the Penguins, he got to display the Laraque Leap, the name slapped on his goal celebration during his seasons in Edmonton. He had 43 goals in 490 games with the Oilers.

Laraque's goal raised a couple questions.

Will getting a big goal from such an unlikely source inspire some of the underachieving forwards on a team that heads into a game tonight against the New York Rangers, who are tied for first place in the Atlantic Division?

And what the heck was Laraque doing on Crosby's line in a tie game?

The second one is easier to answer.

Laraque and fellow fourth-liners Maxime Talbot and Jarkko Ruutu were on the ice when the Islanders scored the tying goal, but coach Michel Therrien wanted to show he still had confidence in Laraque and decided to reward him for what already had been a decent night's effort with an extra shift on the top line.

"He's playing hard, trying to follow the plan," Therrien said. "To get a chance to score the winning goal and on a great pass from Sidney Crosby and the emotion it brought to the team, it was great."

Whether that will carry over to tonight is anyone's guess, but history suggests any further heroics from Laraque in the near future will be more along the lines of a crunching hit than a crucial goal.

Laraque, 30, developed a reputation as a dominating fighter, but with an NHL emphasis on skill the past few seasons, that part of his game has gone partially dormant.

"The time of a guy sitting on the bench being there to protect the team is over," Therrien said. "You need a player who is going to bring respect to the team -- and Georges is probably one of the best in the league -- but he needs to play [other aspects of the game.]"

Laraque uses his 6-foot-3, 243-pound frame, not so much his fists anymore, to punish opposing players. A recent example was the body check to New Jersey's Johnny Oduya Monday that knocked the defenseman into a backward somersault.

He said that's not all his size is good for.

"Controlling the puck down low and stuff like that, I've worked so much on those things," he said. "I like having the puck and trying to make plays. With my size, I can protect the puck."

Laraque, who missed eight games earlier because of a groin injury, has three points in 11 games and is even in plus-minus. His ice time of 7:12 a game is considerably less than some of those forwards who are supposed to be helping out more with goals. That's not an indication he is not valued.

"He knows his bread and butter," Therrien said. "He's a physical guy. It's not about fighting. Fighting will be there once in a while.

"But Georges Laraque is forechecking hard and protecting the puck really well."

And once every two or three blue moons, coming up with a huge goal.