Mike Sullivan had been craving this kind of start from the Penguins from the time he took over as coach Dec. 12. He had to be delighted to see his team score two goals before surrendering a shot, to see it utterly dominate play for most of the first period. And Sullivan had to be even more pleased that, after allowing that 2-0 lead to morph into a 4-3 deficit, the Penguins found a way to salvage a 6-5 victory against Ottawa Tuesday night at Consol Energy Center.
The primary reason was that center Sidney Crosby rang up a natural hat trick, scoring three unanswered goals in a 20½-minute span in the second and third periods to put the Penguins in front to stay. Crosby’s hat trick was his ninth in the NHL, and gave him at least one goal in each of the past eight home games.
Although neither Sullivan nor his Ottawa counterpart, Dave Cameron, likely was pleased to coach a game in which 11 goals were scored, their players didn’t seem to mind. It was Crosby's first hat trick in over two years.
The Penguins have won four games in a row, improved their record to 25-17-7 and pulled to within two points of the second-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division. They hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and are one point behind the third-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins’ best player for much of the first four months of the season, had his worst outing of 2015-16, stopping just 18 of 23 shots. He didn’t face a shot for the first 11½ minutes of play, which makes it difficult for a goaltender to get involved in the game, but was more concerned about what happened in the 48½ minutes that followed.
The Penguins survived Fleury’s off outing, and their only real negative was the loss of blue-collar forward Eric Fehr, who left the game after absorbing a hit from Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki midway through the second period.
Sullivan said Fehr was being examined after the game.
Matt Cullen staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead at 7:01 of the opening period, and Kris Letang made it 2-0 at 10:54. But Ottawa sandwiched a Chris Kunitz goal at 16:17 with ones by Mark Stone and Chris Wideman, and the Penguins reached the first intermission with just a 3-2 lead, despite a 16-5 edge in shots.
Goals by Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Cody Ceci 24 seconds apart early in the second put Ottawa on top, but Crosby took over a few minutes later. He scored from above the right dot on a power play at 6:10 of the second, then added two more goals from point-blank range to make it 6-4. After scoring six goals in his first 32 games, Crosby has scored 14 in his past 16. Pittsburgh has won four consecutive games and five of its past six.
Eric Fehr exited midway through the second period after being hit into the boards and did not return. Sullivan said Fehr has a lower-body injury and was being evaluated Tuesday.
Goals
* Matt Cullen opened the scoring when he carried the puck to the Ottawa crease and took a shot off Anderson’s glove. With Anderson looking behind him, thinking the puck might have crossed the goal line, Cullen sent a rebound shot into the Senators net 7:01 into the first.
* Pittsburgh extended the lead to 2-0 with 9:06 remaining in the first when Letang sent a shot into an open net with Patric Hornqvist in front following Anderson’s pad save on a Kunitz breakaway. The goal was upheld after Ottawa challenged for goalie interference.
* Mark Stone scored on Ottawa’s third shot with 5:10 remaining to cut Pittsburgh’s lead in half.
* Kunitz pushed Pittsburgh's lead back to two goals 1:27 later
* Defenseman Chris Wideman scored on the Senators’ fifth shot to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 30.3 seconds left in the first.
* The Senators scored two quick goals after Tom Kuhnhackl was called for embellishment to negate a Pittsburgh power play. Ottawa took advantage of the 4-on-4 when Erik Karlsson’s slap shot bounced over Marc-Andre Fleury before Jean-Gabriel Pageau tapped it past the goal line 3:01 into the second.
* Cody Ceci scored 24 seconds later when he dug a puck into the net from under Fleury, giving Ottawa a 4-3 lead.
* Crosby capped his ninth career hat trick 6:40 into the third period, when he tapped another shot through Anderson to extend the lead to 6-4. It marked the first time he scored three goals since Oct. 12, 2013, against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
* Senators forward Dave Dziurzynski scored to make it a one-goal game with 4:10 remaining in the third. Ottawa hit the crossbar twice in the final minute.
Quotes
Sidney Crosby: “I think it’s fun [high-scoring games]. You don’t play that many of them. You have to embrace it. It’s one of those games where you know everything’s bouncing wacky out there and you want to be on the right side of it. So, if you’re complaining, or if you’re not happy with the way it’s going, you’re more likely not to embrace it. I just think you try to make sure you get the last one.”“[Fleury’s] bailed us out so many times. It’s nice that we gave up five and we’re still able to win a game.”
Marc-Andre Fleury: “It was even tougher standing there for 60 minutes and getting lit up. No shots against, that was a rough one. The guys did a great job, obviously, and it’s good to get a win. It’s always frustrating [having a poor performance]. You never want it to happen. I’m sure it’ll happen again sometimes, but this feels good though. We played very well. We dominated the play.”
Mike Sullivan: opted against pulling Fleury because “I like guys to have an opportunity to battle through it. It was an interesting game. I thought we had a real strong start, the way we wanted to come out … I felt like we carried the play for the majority of the time.”
Chris Kunitz: “That was our best start. As the game went along, it was fairly crazy. A roller-coaster, back and forth.”
“[Crosby’s] been a dominant factor for a while. It’s nice to see when the puck’s going in for other guys, too, but .when he gets the confidence going, it makes other guys on the ice feel better.”
Metropolitan Division Results
NY Rangers @ New Jersey 2-3
Defenseman David Schlemko scored his first NHL power-play goal with 8:46 remaining in the third period to help the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 win against the Rangers.
Montreal @ Philadelphia 2-4
Wayne Simmonds scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period, and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 at Wells Fargo Center.
Columbus @ Edmonton 1-5
Connor McDavid had a triumphant return in his first game in three months.
Florida @ Washington 5-2
With five points in three games Jonathan Huberdeau has been a big part of the Panthers' four-game win streak, which in turn has given them the confidence of knowing they can compete with the best teams in the NHL. Huberdeau scored twice to help the Panthers to a 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals, their fourth consecutive win and first here since Dec. 9, 2010. Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck scored, and Al Montoya made 36 saves for the Panthers, who lead the Atlantic Division. Nicklas Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky scored for the Capitals, the Metropolitan Division leaders; Philipp Grubauer made 14 saves. The Capitals have played two games since Jan. 19 after having two games rescheduled because of a snowstorm. The Capitals lost 4-3 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 27, and have not lost two consecutive games in regulation all season. Huberdeau scored at 10:43 of the first period to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Jaromir Jagr played the puck behind the net to Huberdeau in the slot, where he scored his ninth goal of the season. Barkov's goal at 15:06 gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead on a 5-on-3. Nick Bjugstad fed a no-look pass to Barkov in front of the net and he scored over Grubauer's right shoulder. The goal was Barkov's 14th. The first period had eight power plays; 10:47 of the period was played at even strength. The Capitals had eight power plays in the game but were unable to score on any of them. Trocheck scored an unassisted goal for a 3-0 Panthers lead 21 seconds into the second period. He skated down the right wing and scored short-side on Grubauer for his 15th. Huberdeau scored his second at 15:10 of the second, giving the Panthers a 4-0 lead. He beat Grubauer glove-side on the power play for his 10th. Backstrom scored 34 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1. He sent a rebound past Montoya for his 17th. Burakovsky made it 4-2 with his eighth goal at 1:53 of the third. He scored on Montoya with a wrist shot from the slot; Burakovsky has 11 points in his past 12 games. The Capitals played without Ovechkin, who was suspended one game for not attending the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game; Johansson, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury; and goalie Braden Holtby, who dressed as Grubauer's backup..
"We're a pretty good team. We can beat any team in this league and can dominate any team." Barkov said.
Atlantic Division Results
Toronto @ Boston 4-3 OT
PA Parenteau scored a power-play goal 3:06 into overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period to defeat the Boston Bruins 4-3.
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