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Crosby's late heroics spoil Flyers' hopes for comeback win

Feb 9, 2007 - 5:23 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers kept Sidney Crosby under control for 65 minutes. However, the 19-year-old refused to go quietly in the shootout.

Crosby scored the lone goal in the bonus format and rookie Jordan Staal extended his goal-scoring streak to four games in regulation as the Pittsburgh Penguins avoided a total meltdown with a 5-4 triumph over the Flyers.

Entering as the league's leading scorer with 86 points, Crosby was kept off the scoresheet by the Flyers, who had allowed the superstar to record 16 points in the previous six games between the clubs this season. Crosby also entered with 30 points in 14 career meetings with the Flyers.

"It was a pretty quiet night," Crosby said. "Our line was having trouble getting anything going. It was more us than them."

But Philadelphia was unable to deny the All-Star in the shootout as Crosby gave Pittsburgh its eighth win in nine games.

"It's been a long time since we had a bad game, but even if you're not at your best, to pick up a win at this time of the year is a good sign," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.

After stopping Erik Christensen and rookie Evgeni Malkin in the first two rounds, Antero Niittymaki had the unenviable task of doing the same to Crosby, who remarkably had not scored in seven previous shootout attempts this season.

But the phenom would not be denied this time, beating Niittymaki to the glove side with a wrist shot to give Pittsburgh the edge.

"After you miss so many, you kind of become numb and you try to go and put it in," Crosby said. "It was nice to have one finally go in. There wasn't a lot of thought behind it. I just looked for a spot and tried to put it in."

Simon Gagne, who had two goals and an assist in regulation, was the last hope for Philadelphia, but Marc-Andre Fleury stopped his attempt to give Pittsburgh its seventh win in as many meetings between the intrastate rivals this campaign.

"We've had a tough time against them this year," Flyers captain Peter Forsberg said. "They found a way to beat us every single time, and tonight as well. ... It's not good that we've lost so many against them. We have to make sure that we win the next one."

"I think they are the hottest team in the league right now," Gagne added. "In the last 10 games, I don't think they lost too many."

Christensen and Michel Ouellet each had a goal and an assist and defenseman Ryan Whitney set up a pair of tallies for the Penguins, who have earned at least a point in 12 straight games (10-0-2).

"It's the most important time of the year and you want to be playing well," Crosby said. "We have to realize what's got us here. Game in and game out, we have to put in the same kind of effort. It's only going to get tougher. We have to build off it."

"We've had success of late, and a couple of wins have been come-from-behind wins," Christensen added. "We're not nervous going into shootouts anymore and we feel like we stayed confident. We felt like we were going to get that extra point."

Forsberg collected four assists and Mike Knuble scored two goals and set up another for Philadelphia, which has lost 13 consecutive home contests (0-9-4).

"We've got to win a home game for our fans," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "The fans were terrific tonight. The momentum was building. We got the game tied up and we had some great chances tonight in overtime. Right now, we've just got to win a hockey game, regardless of the opponent."

"I thought we did a good job battling back," Forsberg said. "It's tough for us right now. We're playing much better than we did, but we still haven't found a way to get the two points, especially at home."

Staal opened the scoring at 9:35 of the first period with his 20th goal of the season. Christensen pounced on a turnover at the Flyers' blue line and had his shot stopped, but Staal poked in the rebound for a 1-0 lead.

Gagne put Philadelphia ahead with a pair of power-play tallies later in the session, giving him his sixth two-goal performance of the campaign. But Ouellet scored for the second time in three games during a man advantage in the second to forge a 2-2 tie and former Flyer Mark Recchi put the Penguins in front 34 seconds into the third with his 19th tally.

Just 30 seconds later, Colby Armstrong - who was playing in his 100th career game - grabbed a loose puck in the left corner and skated around the net before dishing to Christensen, who lifted it under the crossbar for a 4-2 advantage.

"We were disappointed with the way we started in the first period," Christensen said. "We were lucky to be tied going into the third. We thought that all we needed was a good 20 minutes. ... We got two quick goals and we felt that we were in control of the game."

"We had a two-minute letdown," said Philadelphia's Mike Richards, who was stopped on a shorthanded breakaway late in the second. "Two goals right away kind of puts you behind the eight-ball."

The Flyers climbed within a goal at 5:58, when Gagne's one-timer from the left hash marks caromed in off the skate of Knuble, who was standing in the crease. The tally originally was credited to Gagne, but the All-Star had his third career hat trick negated after the game.

Knuble tied it at 4-4 with 84 seconds left in the third, tipping defenseman Alexei Zhitnik's shot from the right point past Fleury for his 21st goal.

"To play the way we did tonight is good stuff," Gagne said. "To come back from two down shows a lot about the character of this team."