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Crosby nets hat trick as Penguins topple Devils

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:30 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- When Sidney Crosby gets in a zone like this, the Pittsburgh Penguins are tough to beat.

The Pittsburgh captain collected his second career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Penguins to a 4-1 triumph over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Petr Sykora scored on the power play for his fifth goal of the season and Dany Sabourin turned aside 28 shots to earn the win.

Crosby, who has now recorded multiple points in four of his last five games, had his first hat trick since he scored three times in an 8-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on October 28, 2006.

"I haven't changed that much, I think I'm playing well," Crosby said. "But I'm getting some breaks as well, but I don't think I've changed much."

After tallying four goals and four assists in his last three games, Crosby put Pittsburgh ahead just 81 seconds into the first period. He tallied midway through the second and scored an empty-netter with 2:01 remaining in the third to finish the hat trick.

"They controlled the pace of the game for the first 40 minutes," New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "I thought in the third period we controlled the pace. We played a much better third period. But 20 minutes against a very good hockey team and you're down three nothing. That makes it tough.

The All-Star center used his playmaking ability to give the Penguins just their second power play goal in 27 chances. Crosby took a feed from Tyler Kennedy and found Sykora all alone next to the right post for a tap-in goal and a 2-0 lead.

Crosby's goal at 11:29 of the second gave him consecutive multiple-goal games for the first time in his career and staked Pittsburgh to a three-goal advantage.

"It was important for us to keep pursuing the puck and not play on our heels," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "Make sure we made the right decisions. Just be sure that we are going to be on the right side of the puck. We didn't give them any momentum or many scoring chances in the third."

Evgeni Malkin assisted on the goal, giving the center at least a point in 17 of 19 games.

Mike Rupp scored his second goal in three games for New Jersey 1:54 into the third period. The loss snapped the Devils' five-game winning streak and handed them just their second loss in their last eight visits to Pittsburgh.

Scott Clemmensen, who made 31 saves on the night, had his personal four-game winning streak snapped.

"Obviously this whole league is full of talented players, and then there's the elite players who are even more talented," Clemmensen said of Crosby. "And when those guys are the hardest-working players on the ice, then that is scary good, scary good."

Sabourin stopped nine shots in the final period as Pittsburgh avenged a 2-1 overtime loss to New Jersey on October 11.

"We felt pretty good about our game," Sabourin said. "The guys in front of me played really hard forechecking, coming back really hard. Overall, we did a good job tonight."