Crosby sparks 7-3 rout of Islanders
Share with others:
Sidney Crosby had four points to reach 500 for his career as the Penguins clobbered the New York Islanders, 7-3, tonight in the final regular-season game at Mellon Arena.
There will still be playoff games at Mellon Arena. Next season, the team will move across the street into Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins moved into a tie with New Jersey atop the Atlantic Division, each with 99 points, but the Devils have the tiebreaker for the second seed in the Eastern Conference after sweeping the season series. Each team has two games remaining.
The Penguins scored the first of six goals in the first period, on Brooks Orpik's shot from the left point 23 seconds into the game.
Alex Goligoski gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead at 5:01 of the period when he converted a back-door play from the left dot for a power-play goal.
The Islanders got a power-play goal at 8:29 when Matt Moulson tipped in a shot by Mark Streit to make it 2-1.
Evgeni Malkin, who missed the Penguins' previous game because of illness, produced a strong effort for a 3-1 lead at 15:15. He tipped a pass by Streit in the Penguins end, then raced New York's Andrew MacDonald down the middle of the ice, eventually outmuscling him and sweeping the puck past goaltender Martin Biron.
The Islanders climbed back to within a goal, 3-2, at 17:08 as Kyle Okposo whipped a shot through traffic and past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
The final goal of the opening period came with 57.7 seconds left. Crosby got his 49th goal on a shot from the top of the right circle to put the Penguins ahead, 4-2.
At the start of the second period, Dwayne Roloson went into the net for Biron, who gave up four goals on 10 shots.
New York again climbed to within a goal, 4-3, at 6:49 of the second period when Josh Baily tipped in a shot by Streit.
The Penguins opened things up with a couple of goals before the end of the second period.
Bill Guerin deflected a slap shot by Crosby over Roloson's left shoulder to make it 5-3 at 14:34. The goal originally was credited to Crosby and would have been his 50th, but there was a scoring change after the game.
Crosby's assist was his 500th point. He is the third-youngest player in the NHL to reach 500 points -- Wayne Gretzky was 21 years, 52 days; Mario Lemieux, 22 years, 172 days; and Crosby 22, years, 244 days. At 369 games, he is the fastest to 500 since Eric Lindros in 1998.
Tyler Kennedy scored on slap shot from the upper, inner edge of the right circle at 16:41 for a 6-3 Penguins lead.
The Penguins pushed their lead to 7-3 at 1:46 of the third period when Bill Guerin swatted in a rebound of a shot by Pascal Dupuis. Crosby got the second assist for his fourth point of the night.
The Penguins (46-27-7) next play Saturday at Atlanta.
Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721
First Published April 8, 2010 10:25 pm
