Crosby puts on show in Phoenix

Pittsburgh Penguin's Sidney Crosby steals the puck from Coyotes' Keith Ballard in the first period at Jobing.com Arena.

Penguins too wily for Coyotes, 7-2
Sunday, January 28, 2007

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- This seems to be the place for young goal-scorers to dazzle.

A year ago, it was Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who scored against Phoenix while stretched out and rolling on the ice.

Last night, it was Penguins All-Star Sidney Crosby, who brought a standing-room crowd of 18,495 at Jobing.com Arena to its feet when he scored from the seat of his hockey pants to put the game out of reach in a 7-2 win against the Phoenix Coyotes.

With the puck heading out of harm's way toward the right corner, Crosby corkscrewed his body to follow and snag it. His left skate got tangled with that of Coyotes winger Fredrik Sjostrom, but as he hit the deck, he managed to sweep the puck past goaltender Mikael Tellqvist and into the near side of the net at 4:48 of the third period to make it 5-2.

The goal -- and the win -- capped a two-game, two-night wild, wild West trip.

"It was unbelievable. It was sick," said Penguins goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, who made 22 saves and stopped all seven Phoenix shots in the third period.

Crosby's other teammates felt the same way.

"Guys on the bench couldn't believe it -- another highlight goal." Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.

Crosby, typically, was matter of fact about the move.

"I just tried to stay with it," he said. "You can't go out there and try to do things like that. You just try to go out there and react. I was just falling back and I was lucky enough to get my stick there with enough time to get the shot away."

It was Crosby's fourth point of the game. The NHL's leading scorer with 78 points in 45 games extended his points streak to six games (four goals, nine assists).

Linemate Mark Recchi had a goal and three assists to stretch his points streak to six games (seven goals, seven assists). Defenseman Sergei Gonchar had three assists.

It wasn't just the usual suspects who produced for the Penguins. Nine players picked up at least one point, with forwards Jarkko Ruutu and Ronald Petrovicky among those scoring.

The Penguins trailed, 2-1, midway through the second period, then poured it on to get all four points out of their two-night journey after beating Dallas in a shootout Friday. They extended their unbeaten streak to 5-0-1.

With the win, they moved into a seventh-place tie with Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference standings with 54 points, four behind sixth-place Carolina with four games in hand.

The Penguins play their next four games against Eastern Conference teams and open a three-game homestand Tuesday against Tampa Bay.

The teams traded goals through the first half of the game.

Then it was all Penguins -- and nearly all of the Penguins.

Defenseman Ryan Whitney got his eighth of the season when he converted a pass from Crosby for a power-play goal from the left circle to make it 3-2. That extended Whitney's points streak to seven games.

Ruutu surprised Tellqvist at 17:37 when, looking to pass, he instead guided the puck underneath the goaltender to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead.

"I looked for a pass, but I had to shoot it fast because there was nothing there," said Ruutu, who picked up his third goal of the season and second in three games, but one came on a penalty shot and he hadn't scored during regular game action since the season opener.

After Crosby's flashy goal made it 5-2, Petrovicky, a little-used winger, bagged his first goal of the season and second point of the game when he scored on a rebound to make it 6-2 at 5:03.

"It's obvious there are guys who are going to get most of the goals, but you're trying to chip in whenever you get a chance," Ruutu said of the different names appearing on the scoresheet.

Recchi, cruising past the top of the slot, hacked at a loose puck and beat Tellqvist to bulk up the score to 7-2 at 12:16.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721. )