Thursday, November 27, 2008
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Ed Betz/Associated Press
Sidney Crosby passes the puck in front of the Islanders' Andy Sutton in the third period.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- It should be clear by now that this is not something Michel Therrien does lightly.
He turns to it only in the most dire of circumstances, when there is no reasonable option.
Sure, playing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the same line -- the way Therrien did to spark the Penguins' 5-3 comeback victory against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum last night -- disrupts his forward combinations. It allows opponents to focus their defensive efforts on a single unit, too.
But the best reason of all to keep those two apart might be that it's an act of mercy, because when their games jell the way they did during the third period against the Islanders, Crosby and Malkin can do some pretty terrible things to their opponents.
In this case, combine to score four goals in less than 16 minutes.
"Definitely, they took charge of that game," Therrien said.
Aside from the empty-netter Malkin scored with 17.5 seconds left to complete his third career hat trick, the goals all were the by-product of the kind of offensive magic only world-class talents can create.
Indeed, while Crosby and Malkin have done some pretty remarkable things together during the past few years, their performance last night might be their finest to date.
"It was fun," Crosby said. "Tonight, the pucks went in. ... Luckily for us, we capitalized on every chance we made."
The rampage by Malkin and Crosby overshadowed some solid work by rookie goalie John Curry, who replaced Dany Sabourin at 9:27 of the second period and stopped all 11 shots the Islanders threw at him.
"[The team] didn't play that well in front of [Sabourin]," Curry said. "But they played really well in front of me. ... Especially in the third, I didn't have to do much."
Therrien was noncommittal about whether he will start Sabourin or Curry when the Penguins visit Buffalo at 7:38 p.m. tomorrow.
It is not known if forward Max Talbot will be available for the Sabres game. He took a Radek Martinek shot off the left foot in the second period and is listed as day to day.
Last night marked the seventh time in their first 21 games that the Penguins (13-5-3) rebounded from a deficit after two periods to earn a victory.
That's just five shy of the league record, with 61 games to go.
Ed Betz/Associated Press
Evgeni Malkin scores his third goal of the game against the Islanders in the third period last night at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
The Penguins made sure they would need a comeback by spotting New York the first three goals.
Doug Weight gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead during a power play at 7:45 of the opening period, six seconds after a two-man advantage expired, and Trent Hunter made it 2-0 70 seconds later.
Bill Guerin knocked Sabourin out of the game by beating him high on the glove side with a slap shot from the high slot.
Sabourin volunteered that, "I'd like to have the third one back," and Therrien didn't disagree.
"This is something [Sabourin] has to learn, to not give up the bad goal," he said. "He's playing well. He's pretty solid, but he has a tendency right now to give up bad goals.
"Unlucky goals. Unlucky goals are bad goals. In this league, you can't have them."
Therrien put Malkin and Crosby together for the first time as the middle of the second approached, and Malkin was serving a high-sticking minor when Guerin got New York's third goal.
That lead, coupled with New York's strong defense in the first two periods, made a rally seem unlikely, at best.
"They played a really good game for two periods," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "They were getting on us right away. We couldn't make plays, because they were taking our time and space away."
But Orpik revived the Penguins by beating New York goalie Joey MacDonald from just inside the blue line with 18.7 seconds left in the second. The goal was his second, tying the career-high he set in 2005-06.
"I've got a lot of games to break that record," he said, smiling.
The comeback gained momentum when Crosby converted a cross-ice feed from Malkin at 6:18 of the third and, at 11:03, Malkin beat MacDonald from the slot after Crosby gave him the puck.
Fifty seconds later, Crosby stole the puck from Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton at the right side of the net and backhanded it in front to Malkin, who buried it behind MacDonald.
That put the Penguins in front to stay and put the league on notice of just what Crosby and Malkin can do.
"They brought their game to another level," Therrien said.
"They knew the game was on the line."
And did everything possible to make sure it was in the bag, too.
Dave Molinari can be reached at dmolinari@post-gazette.com.
First published on November 27, 2008 at 12:00 am
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