PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby scored all three Pittsburgh goals for the first natural hat trick of his six-season career and the Penguins won a matchup of teams on long winning streaks, beating the Atlanta Thrashers 3-2 Thursday night.
With Crosby becoming the first Penguins player in nearly 10 years to score three goals in successive home games, Pittsburgh ran its winning streak to eight games. Atlanta’s franchise record-tying streak ended at six.
The Penguins, 10-0-1 in their last 11, are on their longest winning streak since they also won eight in a row from Dec. 23, 2007, to Jan. 10, 2008. They have won their last eight at home against Atlanta, which had outscored opponents 22-5 during its winning streak.
Marc-Andre Fleury allowed Nik Antropov’s goal that made it 3-2 late in the second period, but made 20 saves while improving to 9-0-1 in his last 10 starts.
Crosby, the NHL’s leading scorer with 21 goals and 23 assists for 44 points in 27 games, tied Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos for the goal-scoring lead.
RANGERS 6, ISLANDERS 5: Marian Gaborik had three goals and an assist, and Henrik Lundqvist made nine saves in relief of backup Martin Biron to lift New York to a win at Uniondale, N.Y.
Gaborik’s third goal gave the Rangers a 6-5 lead with 5:25 left after Michael Grabner and Blake Comeau scored 1:41 apart to get the Islanders even.
OILERS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 0: Nikolai Khabibulin made 33 saves and Taylor Hall scored twice to help Edmonton beat Toronto, giving the Oilers their third road victory four nights.
SHARKS 4, SENATORS 0: Logan Couture scored twice and Antti Niemi made 28 saves for his first shutout of the season as San Jose won at Ottawa.
CANADIENS 5, DEVILS 1: Brian Gionta and Lars Eller scored in the first 1:38, Tom Pyatt, Scott Gomez and Benoit Pouliot added goals, and Carey Price made 27 saves as Montreal won at Newark, N.J.
STARS 2, CAPITALS 1: Backup Andrew Raycroft made 37 saves, Brandon Segal scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and Dallas beat visiting Washington for its fifth straight win.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.