Sykora scores 2 for 38th occasion
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Penguins winger Petr Sykora, center, celebrates one of his two goals against the Hurricanes last night in Raleigh, N.C.
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RALEIGH, N.C. -- Petr Sykora scored two goals last night.
Now, there's something special for you -- something that has happened only, uh, 38 times since Sykora broke into the NHL.
Which, coincidentally enough, is 38 times more than he has registered a hat trick.
But in the wake of the Penguins' 5-2 victory against Carolina at the RBC Center, Sykora didn't seem terribly upset about failing to get a three-goal game for the 867th consecutive time.
"It's going to happen sooner or later," he said. "It has to happen. And, if not, who cares?"
That's easy for him to say, perhaps, because he earned a worthwhile consolation prize, becoming the first Penguins player to score two power-play goals in a road game this season.
That stat didn't require much research because the Penguins, as a group, hadn't scored more than one man-advantage goal in any of their previous 12 away games.
"You give yourself a boost [by converting on the power play]," center Sidney Crosby said. "We're happy to break the trend of the last little bit."
Crosby, meanwhile, kept another trend going. He assisted on the Penguins' first four goals, giving him seven goals and 10 assists in the past seven games. Those four assists were one shy of his personal-best, set Dec. 13, 2006, against Philadelphia.
"We got some good breaks, and capitalized on a lot of the chances we had," he said. "There are some nights when you're going to get those chances and you don't get much."
Penguins goalie Dany Sabourin had the benefit of never being forced to play from behind but still was a major force in the victory, stopping 34 of 36 shots. He made perhaps his finest save during the third period, when he denied Joni Pitkanen from the inner edge of the left circle during a two-on-one break.
"There weren't tons of routine saves," Crosby said. "He had to come up big many times."
The Penguins played without winger Tyler Kennedy, who returned to Pittsburgh for examination of an unspecified injury he received during Wednesday's 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Rangers. Indications are that his injury is too severe to be characterized as "day to day," although there is no firm prognosis.
Mike Zigomanis, who appeared to injure his right arm or shoulder against the Rangers, also sat out last night's game, while defenseman Philippe Boucher, who was hurt Friday against Buffalo, was placed on injured reserve.
Forwards Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard, summoned from the Penguins' minor league team in Wilkes-Barre because of the injuries to Kennedy and Zigomanis, were plugged into the lineup.
Sykora put the Penguins in front to stay with a power-play goal at 10:53 of the opening period, when he beat Hurricanes goalie Michael Leighton with a wrist shot from the right side of the slot. That marked the 11th consecutive game in which the Hurricanes spotted their opponent the first goal.
The Penguins made it 2-0 at 12:30, when Pascal Dupuis knocked the puck away from ex-Penguins defenseman Josef Melichar in the left-wing circle, nudging it to Crosby. A few seconds later, Crosby gave it back to Dupuis at the left side of the crease and Dupuis flipped it in to end a 15-game goal-less drought.
"I didn't even celebrate, because I didn't believe I scored," Dupuis said. "I was like: 'I'll wait until the faceoff drops at center ice to know that I did score a goal.' "
Sykora got what proved to be the winner during a power play at 1:53 of the second, but Carolina countered with one by Tuomo Ruutu, younger brother of former Penguins winger Jarkko Ruutu, just 19 seconds later.
Miroslav Satan expanded the Penguins' comfort zone at 6:51 by throwing the puck into the crease, where it hit the right skate of Carolina winger Chad LaRose and skidded across the goal line.
After Matt Cullen revived the Hurricanes by beating Sabourin with a slap shot from the slot during a power play at 15:54, Ruslan Fedotenko knocked in an Evgeni Malkin rebound at 18:27 to close out the scoring.
Sykora's linemates managed to get him the puck a few times during the final period, but he never really had a chance to lock up that elusive first hat trick. It's obvious that he wants one -- badly -- but he's adamant that he'll only go so far to try to make it happen.
"I was making sure that I played well defensively," he said. "I didn't want to cheat to get that third goal."
Sykora didn't cheat anybody last night. Neither did the rest of his team.
First Published December 5, 2008 12:00 am
