Rare Crosby fight can't spark Penguins, 6-1 losers
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The slumping Penguins lost their fourth game in a row overall and fifth in a row at Mellon Arena, 6-1, to the Florida Panthers this afternoon.
It is their longest losing streak of the season.
The Penguins gave up four goals on Florida's first 10 shots against two goaltenders and never recovered.
Florida took a 1-0 lead on its second shot of the game. Winger Ville Peltonen threw the puck past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the left circle for a power-play goal at 10:12 of the first period.
Center Nathan Horton increased Florida's lead to 2-0 when he moved in from the left boards and lifted a shot past Fleury at 15:20 of the first period.
Fleury, after giving up two goals on five shots in the first period, was replaced in net by Dany Sabourin for the start of the second period.
The Penguins cut the deficit in half when winger Ruslan Fedotenko scored from a severe angle to Craig Anderson's right at 1:37 of the second period to make it 2-1.
Florida scored twice on its first five shots against Sabourin, both on the power play, to make it 4-1 -- winger Cory Stillman at 8:03 of the second period when he converted a pass through the crease from defenseman Bryan McCabe, and Richard Zednik at 11:24 of the second period when he batted in a rebound.
The Penguins' frustrations began to mount and culminated with center Max Talbot fighting the Panthers' Gregory Campbell off a faceoff at 16:59 of the second period, followed two seconds later by center and captain Sidney Crosby going after Florida's Brett McLean.
It was the second career fight for Crosby, who pinned McLean and got extra penalties for instigating and unsportsmanlike conduct, as well as a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
The Panthers made it 5-1 at 18:31 of the second period when Horton scored on a breakaway during four-on-four play.
Fleury returned to the Penguins net for the third period.
Center Michael Frolik upped Florida's advantage to 6-1 when he scored from the high slot at 4:14 of the third period.
The Penguins play Monday in New York against the Rangers.
First Published January 3, 2009 3:37 pm
