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Walker's two goals dampens Crosby's historic night

Mar 3, 2007 - 5:30 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Sidney Crosby broke a record held by Wayne Gretzky. Scott Walker broke the Pittsburgh Penguins' spirit.

Crosby became the youngest player in NHL history to score 200 career points, but Walker netted his second goal of the game midway through the third period to snap a tie and give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Penguins.

Entering with just one goal in his previous 15 games and no points in the last two, Crosby opened the scoring with his 27th tally of the season. The goal accounted for the phenom's 200th career point, making him the youngest player in league history to reach the plateau at 19 years, 207 days.

"I never thought it would happen," Crosby said. "It's a nice accomplishment."

Gretzky, who holds a plethora of NHL offensive records, notched his 200th point at 19 years, 347 days.

Walker knotted the contest 7 1/2 minutes into the second period and, after defenseman Frantisek Kaberle and Ryan Malone traded tallies later in the session, put Carolina ahead for good in the third.

With 8:27 remaining, Cory Stillman unleashed a wrist shot from the right point that never made it to the net. The puck deflected off a body in the slot and went to Walker, who fired it into a vacant net from the left side for his 19th of the season and a 3-2 edge.

"You can't worry about who gets the goals," Walker said. "When you play hard and skate hard, sometimes the bounces go your way."

"It was a tight game," said Pittsburgh netminder Jocelyn Thibault, who stopped 23 shots. "That's the type of game you expect to play when you come here. We battled hard. They did, too. A couple breaks went their way. The game could've gone either way in the third. It went their way."

The tally capped Walker's third two-goal performance of the campaign and second against the Penguins. It also appeared to deflate Pittsburgh, which managed just two shots the rest of the way and none on a power play late in the period.

"The guys were working hard (on the penalty kill)," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. "(Assistant coach) Jeff Daniels does a great job of trying to prepare (them) and ultimately, it's about following the routes and executing. In battles, obviously you're outnumbered. We did an excellent job."

Pittsburgh also failed to score on its first six man advantages of the night.

"It's a matter of attitude. I don't think we had the right attitude out on the ice," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "When you don't have the right attitude, you lose your focus. This is what happened to our power play tonight."

Cam Ward made 22 saves for the Hurricanes (33-27-7), who halted a two-game skid and climbed one point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens (33-28-6) for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

"I do think we worked hard tonight," Laviolette said. "There was more skating in our game and more energy that had been missing for a couple of games. We've been very inconsistent, to say the least, but you could tell the guys were into the game tonight. ... It was one of our best performances, as far as effort goes and in terms of intensity."

"We haven't left ourselves any room for error," Walker said of Carolina's playoff position. "We've got to keep it going."

Ryan Malone also scored for fifth-place Pittsburgh (34-21-9), which has lost four of its last six games.

"I think both teams were playing pretty desperate," said Crosby, who leads the NHL with 98 points. "Even strength, it was pretty even. Both goalies made some big saves. It was just a back-and-forth type of hockey game with a lot of speed. It was probably a good hockey game to watch."

Crosby gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with 5:37 remaining in the first period, outmuscling Josef Vasicek for possession of the puck behind the net and skating around to the bottom of the right faceoff circle before beating Ward to the far side with a wrist shot.

"He's a heck of a player," Ward said. "It was smart on his part to throw it to that side."

But Walker evened the contest at 7:28 of the second with a one-timer from the right faceoff dot after defenseman Niclas Wallin's wrister from above the left circle went wide and caromed off the end boards.

Kaberle put Carolina ahead 67 seconds later with his first goal in 11 games before Malone's one-timer from the slot found the top right corner of the net at 10:24 to knot the game at 2-2.