By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Sidney Crosby sits on the bench next to coach Dan Bylsma after after scoring his third goal of the NHL hockey game against the Atlanta Thrashers, in the second period Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010, in Pittsburgh. (AP)
You might not know it, since the guy has two hat tricks in the past three games, but there are tougher jobs in hockey these days than trying to defend against Sidney Crosby.
Like, attempting to put into words precisely how well he has been playing lately.
Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski, with the full weight of a University of Minnesota education behind him, gave it a shot after watching Crosby score all three of the Penguins' goals in their 3-2 victory against the Atlanta Thrashers Thursday night at Consol Energy Center.
And failed.
Miserably.
"If you were looking for a word, I would say ... I don't know," Goligoski said, smiling. "My college education's not going to help me."
Neither would a thesaurus. Or a hyperactive imagination.
Crosby has been playing the finest hockey of his pro career for the past few weeks, which means that a guy who might be the finest player in the world under normal circumstances has elevated his game to a level most mortal players couldn't reach in their most outrageous daydreams.
"The boy is special," Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said. "There's no question. Everybody knows that. When players like that get on a roll, it's scary to play against them."
The same is true of Crosby's team. This victory was the Penguins' eighth in a row and ran their record to 10-0-1 since a 7-4 loss Nov. 10 to Boston.
The Thrashers, it should be noted, were not just another victim. They had won their previous six games and look a lot like a team that has the potential to be a factor, if not a force, in the Eastern Conference as the season plays out.
Atlanta got off to a good start in this one, too. The Thrashers ended the Penguins' run of 32 consecutive successful penalty-kills, six shy of the franchise record, at 6:21 of the opening period, when Bryan Little tossed in a rebound from in front of the net while Evgeni Malkin was serving a high-sticking minor.
"We were going to have to give one up at some point," penalty-killer Max Talbot said.
But just 71 seconds after that streak ended, another was extended when Crosby flipped a shot past Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec from along the goal line to the right of the net.
That goal, Crosby's 19th, stretched his points streak to 14 games, longest in the NHL this season.
Turned out to be just the first installment of a natural hat trick, too.
At 4:24 of the second, Crosby pulled in a long lead pass from Arron Asham and broke in alone on Pavelec before beating him with a backhander.
Crosby has hit the 20-goal mark in each of his six pro seasons. This time, he needed just 27 games, fewer than in any of the previous five. The most he needed was 53, in 2008-09.
A productive game became a prolific one at 10:18 of the second, when Crosby deflected a Brooks Orpik shot that was sailing wide of the Atlanta net past Pavelec to make it 3-1.
"That's about as good a tip as you'll see," Orpik said.
The goal pushed his league-leading points total to 44, four more than Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, who is second. Not that Crosby is inclined to measure his work solely by goals and assists.
"I don't know," he said. "You try not to think about the points and things."
It's hard not to, where he's concerned, but Crosby appreciates that other facets of his game also are important. Like faceoffs, of which he won 12 of 21, although a loss to Rich Peverley with eight seconds left in regulation led to a final Atlanta scoring chance.
"He was apologizing to us for losing the faceoff clean at the end," Orpik said.
No apology was needed, however, since Talbot -- inadvertently or otherwise -- put himself in position to block Dustin Byfuglien's shot as time was winding down.
"I toe-picked," Talbot said. "I tried to cover as much ice as I could, and caught a little bit of ice and went head-first. I blocked the shot, so that's what matters."
Crosby's hiccup on that faceoff doesn't cost the Penguins anything more than a bruise on Talbot's arm. It certainly didn't detract from the work he did in the previous 59-plus minutes, or the several weeks that preceded them.
"It still amazes me, how good he is," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. "How hard he works to get better."
For more on the Penguins, read the Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Dave Molinari: dmolinari@post-gazette.com.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10337/1107938-61.stm#ixzz173Egkk1U
Crosby scores 3 again, Pens beat Thrashers 3-2
By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl
December 3, 2010
Sidney Crosby collects a rebound in front of Atlanta Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. Crosby scored his third goal of the game on the play. (AP)
PITTSBURGH (AP)—Not that long ago, Penguins fans went to the arena nightly knowing they might see something special from Mario Lemieux. Now, Sidney Crosby is becoming just that kind of player, too.
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 on 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.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “But I did shake my head a couple of times.”
It took the NHL’s hottest scorer to beat one of the league’s hottest teams.
Crosby has scored six goals in his last two home games—he had three Saturday against Calgary—and has 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points during a 14-game scoring streak.
“That’s something you expect from him, because we see him every day,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “But it still amazes me how good he is, how hard he works to get better.”
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. They tied for the goals title last season with 51 apiece.
Crosby did not score three consecutive goals during any of his six previous hat tricks, but he did so against goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who had an 0.83 goals-against average during Atlanta’s winning streak.
“I try not to think about the points, I try to evaluate the (overall) game. I think the team’s been playing well and as a line we’ve been clicking,” said Crosby, referring to linemates Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz. “But it’s good to see them go in because sometimes they don’t go in.”
Pavelec has been nearly unbeatable in net for two weeks, giving up five goals in six games while stopping 183 of 188 shots, but he is 0-6 against Pittsburgh.
“We have to keep our heads up,” Pavelec said. “They’re on a roll; we’re on a roll. We just lost one game.”
The Penguins are on their longest winning streak since they also won eight in a row from Dec. 23, 2007-Jan. 10, 2008. They’ve taken over the Atlantic Division lead with 36 points, going 10-0-1 in their last 11 to pull within two points of Washington for the overall lead.
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. He was especially strong as Atlanta pushed repeatedly for the tying goal in the third period.
Bryan Little scored off a rebound 6:21 into the game, the first goal allowed by Pittsburgh’s league-leading penalty-killing unit in 10 games.
Crosby needed only 1:11 to tie it, settling down a long pass through traffic from Kunitz at the side of the net and beating Pavelec.
Crosby reached the 20-goal mark early in the second period. A surprised Arron Asham looked up the ice after Atlanta defenseman Dustin Byfuglien fanned on a one-timer and saw Crosby 50 feet behind any defender at the far blue line. Crosby took the long pass, broke in on Pavelec and beat him cleanly with a backhander.
“He comes off the bench, gets a breakaway and gets it in the net,” Atlanta coach Craig Ramsay said. “A couple of things bounced against us.”
Crosby completed his hat trick at 10:18 of the second, deftly deflecting Brooks Orpik’s slap shot from the blue line. No Penguins player had scored hat tricks in successive home games since Alex Kovalev on Feb. 7 & 10, 2001.
“The boy’s special, there’s no question,” Ramsay said. “Everybody knows that. When players like that get on a roll, it’s scary to play against them. When the puck bounces, they get it and when they get it, good things happen.”
There was an audible stir after that whenever Crosby had the puck on his stick, but he couldn’t score again. Crosby has never had a four-goal game in his 398 career NHL games.
NOTES: Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin scored three goals Nov. 13 in Atlanta. … Atlanta has scored the first goal in 11 of its last 13 games. … The Penguins are 6-1 against Southeast Division teams. They have won their last eight at home against Atlanta. … Crosby reached the 20-goal mark in his 27th game. He did it in his 30th game last season.
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