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Panthers keep Penguins reeling

Jan 4, 2009 - 1:44 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Florida Panthers left the reeling Pittsburgh Penguins so frustrated that even Sidney Crosby got involved in a fight.

Nathan Horton scored two goals Saturday as the Panthers posted a 6-1 victory over the Penguins, who suffered an embarrassing home loss.

Horton gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead with 4:40 left in the first period, then scored on a breakaway to make it 5-1 with 1:29 remaining in the middle session.

"I think they were really frustrated, and that's what we needed," Horton said. "That's what we wanted. I think it was better for us that they did get frustrated. It kind of tilted the game in our favor."

Shortly before Horton's second goal, Crosby duked it out with Brett McLean, an altercation that cost him 19 minutes in the penalty box.

Crosby was assessed a five-minute major, a 10-minute misconduct and two other minor penalties, including one for instigating the fight.

"You need that emotional boost," Crosby said. "I would have been much better off, after seeing what happened, playing hockey because I didn't expect to be in (the penalty box) for 20 minutes."

"(Crosby) was just trying to spark his team so we can understand that," McLean added.

If that was Crosby's intent, however, it didn't work.

Pittsburgh suffered a season-high fourth straight defeat and dropped to 8-9-1 here - one fewer home defeat than all of last season when the Penguins reached the Stanley Cup Finals.

"I thought it (Crosby's fight) was unprofessional," Florida defenseman Nick Boynton said . "You don't jump a guy while his head's down, taking a faceoff. That's pretty immature and childish."

Florida did not get a ton of chances but made the most of its opportunities. The Panthers scored four goals on their first 10 shots.

Pittsburgh starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled after yielding two goals while facing only five shots in the opening period.

Fleury was coming off an outing when he was bombarded with 40 shots in Thursday's 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.

"Halfway through the game, we were the best team," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "You can't win in this league without solid goaltending. In the game in Boston, we gave up three goals on three shots."

On Saturday, Fleury was replaced at the start of the second period by Dany Sabourin, who allowed three goals on 12 shots.

"I thought we were ready to play," Therrien added. "We had a good first period, but we were down by two and we made a goalie change."

Craig Anderson recorded 29 saves for the Panthers, yielding only an unassisted goal by Ruslan Fedotenko that pulled the Penguins within 2-1 1:37 into the second period.

However, McCabe and Richard Zednik scored power-play goals 3:21 apart midway through the second to allow the Panthers to take control.

While the Penguins allowed two power-play goals, they were 0-for-3 with the man advantage, extending their drought to 24 chances over the last six games.

"You look at the standings," Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "Every game we lose, we're falling down."