Crosby steals show as Penguins rout Islanders, 7-3
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Sidney Crosby celebrates throws a jersey back to a fan that he signed at the end of Thursday night's victory against the New York Islanders. -
Marc-Andre Fleury makes a save against the Islanders.
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The evening began with the Penguins celebrating their history, reveling in all that had been accomplished during the franchise's first 1,666 games at Mellon Arena.
Before No. 1,667 was over, Sidney Crosby had added a final, glorious chapter to the team's regular-season legacy in the only home rink it ever has known.
Crosby scored one goal and set up three others Thursday night in the Penguins' 7-3 victory against the New York Islanders. Along the way, he became the eighth player in team history to reach the 50-goal plateau in a season.
For about an hour.
About 15 minutes after the game ended, an official scoring change resulted in the Penguins' fifth goal being switched from Crosby to Bill Guerin, which means Crosby actually has 49.
Coach Dan Bylsma said the scoring change was initiated by Crosby.
Crosby's rampage helped to hoist the Penguins back into a tie with New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division.
"You don't often get surprised anymore by some of the performances he puts up," Bylsma said.
The Penguins and Devils, 3-2 losers at Florida Thursday night, are tied with 99 points. Both teams have 46 victories, which is the first tiebreaker, and two games remaining. New Jersey would win the second tiebreaker, head-to-head competition.
Even so, the Devils' loss to the Panthers injected some unexpected suspense into the Atlantic race because a victory would have allowed them to lock up first place by winning one of their final two games.
New Jersey has home games against the Islanders Saturday and Buffalo Sunday, while the Penguins will visit Atlanta Saturday and the Islanders Sunday.
"We've drawn even with them, but we still have some work to do," Bylsma said.
The Penguins finished their six-game homestand, which matched the second-longest in franchise history, with a 4-2 mark and their final regular season at Mellon Arena with a 25-12-4 record.
Crosby goes into the weekend with a one-goal lead over Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos and Alexander Ovechkin of Washington in the NHL goal-scoring race.
The goal that would have been Crosby's 50th doubled as his 500th career point, making him the third-youngest player to record that many. He did it in 22 years, 244 days, faster than anyone except Wayne Gretzky (21 years, 52 days) and Mario Lemieux (22 years, 172 days).
First Published April 9, 2010 12:00 am
