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Crosby makes Islanders latest victim as Penguins roll

Dec 16, 2006 - 6:01 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Sidney Crosby apparently has another team upon which he likes to feast.

Crosby scored a goal and set up each of Ryan Malone's three tallies and Mark Recchi added a goal and three assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to four games with a 7-4 victory over the New York Islanders.

Fresh off a career-best six-point effort Wednesday against Philadelphia, a team in which he has collected 29 points in 13 meetings, Crosby continued his assault on New York. Entering with 21 points in 11 career contests vs. the Islanders, the 19-year-old increased that total with another sparkling performance.

After assisting on Malone's first goal 7 1/2 minutes into the game, Crosby extended his goal-scoring streak to six contests with 7:25 to go in the first period, putting Pittsburgh ahead for good, 2-1.

With the Penguins holding a comfortable 5-1 advantage, Crosby fed Malone at 8:45 of the third for his third point of the night. Recchi completed his four-point game on the play with his 800th career assist.

"It's a nice feeling," said Recchi, who lives in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. "Obviously, this is my home. I won a (Stanley) Cup here a long time ago. We had some good times, and now I'm back and we're building toward trying to win a championship here again."

The Islanders staged a late rally, scoring three times in a 2:21 span midway through the period, but Crosby made a scintillating play to set up Malone's third goal with 4:26 to go.

"He's a good player," New York defenseman Brendan Witt said of Crosby. "He set up Malone for two pretty goals. He sees the ice very well."

After carrying down the right side, Crosby banked a backhand pass off the end boards to himself in order to get away from defenseman Alexei Zhitnik. Following the move, he skated behind the net and dished to Malone, who beat goaltender Mike Dunham to the glove side from the right faceoff circle to complete his first career hat trick.

"It feels good," Malone said. "Sid made great passes on all three plays and (Recchi) went to the net to open up space for me. Our line right now is clicking. We're putting together chances, which is great. Hopefully, that continues."

"That line clicks really well," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "They feed off each other. I like the way that they're protecting the puck, and the chemistry is there. It's nice for Ryan to get his first career hat trick in the NHL, and in the meantime, we had Mark Recchi picking up his 800th assist, so it's a great night for those guys."

Therrien admitted his team got complacent after taking a five-goal lead.

"We controlled the first two periods," he said. "After that, it was a tough lead. With four or five goals, guys get back into bad habits. We took some penalties and we gave them a chance to get back into the game. The last goal we scored was important because the momentum was changing."

Rookie Jordan Staal and Maxime Talbot also scored and Jocelyn Thibault made 28 saves for the Penguins, who earlier in the day learned prospective buyer Jim Balsillie withdrew his bid to purchase the team.

Miroslav Satan, Jason Blake, Mike York and defenseman Tom Poti each had a goal and an assist for New York, which has played three of its last four road games at Mellon Arena.

"If there's a positive from this, it's that we never quit," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "We played a little bitter there in the third (period), but we were definitely out of sync some of the first two."

Islanders blue-liner Bruno Gervais recorded two assists and Rick DiPietro allowed five goals on 29 shots over two periods before being replaced by Dunham.

Malone began his historic night at 7:22 of the opening period, when he received a cross-slot pass from Crosby in the left circle and put a wrister over DiPietro's right shoulder for his second goal in as many games. The Pittsburgh native netted his second of the game less than nine minutes into the third, beating Dunham with another shot from the left circle.

"I just keep shooting pucks on net, and sooner or later, they'll go in," Malone said. "Obviously, it's not always going to be like this, but as long as we're getting chances, that's the important thing."

"He has to be a player to be counted on every shift, every night," Recchi said. "Since he came back (from a broken forearm), he's been playing like that, and he's reaping the rewards. He's playing really hard, playing really well."

The Penguins, who have scored 15 goals over their last two games and averaged 6.0 during their winning streak, came out victorious despite struggling on special teams. Pittsburgh converted just one of its 10 power-play opportunities while allowing New York to go 3-for-6 with the man advantage.