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Cooke helps Penguins win without injured Crosby

Jan 17, 2009 - 5:13 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- No Sidney Crosby, no problem - at least for one night.

Matt Cooke scored twice and defenseman Hal Gill netted a goal and set up another as the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday vanquished the Anaheim Ducks, 3-1, without their injured captain.

All-Star Evgeni Malkin recorded two assists and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for the Penguins, who won for the third time in 11 games just two nights after watching Crosby leave in the third period of a 6-3 setback to the Washington Capitals with a leg injury.

"It's a young, resilient group and we haven't accepted losing, and every guy in this room hates it," Cooke said. "Yeah, we've done it quite a bit lately, but it doesn't change the fact none of us want to.

"The biggest thing is to have that level of desperation, make sure that even if it isn't the biggest game of the season, we can't take time to relax, we have to play desperate, and that's going to teach us a lesson."

Ryan Getzlaf scored a power-play goal and fellow All-Star Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 21 shots for the Ducks, who began their five-game road trip with their fourth loss in five contests.

"We need to get points to stay in the playoffs," Anaheim's Samuel Pahlsson said. "It's an important time for us. Before the little break, we have to get on the right track here.

"We weren't ready tonight. We came back (with) a little pressure there on the power plays and stuff, but we have to be better from the beginning of the game. It's not good enough to just try to come from behind every night."

Crosby, who appeared in just 53 contests last season due to a high ankle sprain, collided with Washington's David Steckel late in the third period on Wednesday and did not return.

The 21-year-old underwent an MRI on his injured leg on Thursday and said there "wasn't too much swelling" but nixed his chances of playing on Friday during the morning skate.

Pittsburgh had dropped eight of 10 entering this contest and surrendered at least four goals in each of its last seven losses. But despite the struggles, Malkin continues to produce, leading the NHL with 69 points.

The Russian set up Cooke's first goal, which came with 21 seconds remaining in the opening period, to notch his 51st point in his 33rd career game without Crosby in the lineup.

Stationed behind the net, Cooke took Malkin's pass and fired a wrist shot past Giguere to create a 1-0 lead.

"(Cooke) is such a warrior," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "It is nice to see those types of players get rewards and score some important goals. I know the guys were pushing for him at the end to score his hat trick. I'm not sure if he ever had a hat trick before, but you could tell the guys on the bench tried to tell the guys on the ice to feed him the puck to get that open net."

Cooke struck again 23 seconds into the middle session, grabbing the rebound of defenseman Ryan Whitney's shot and spinning around before putting a backhander into the vacant net.

"It's been (Malkin and Crosby) the past couple of games, and tonight it was (Malkin and Petr Sykora)," Cooke said of playing on the first line. "They're all great players, and to be counted on offensively is a real treat for me.

"I was an offensive player in junior and, you know, there's not always room for everybody to be an offensive guy, so I tried to find a role for myself to keep myself in the league. But given the opportunity, I like that I can help out and chip in. I'm just going to enjoy it right now."

Getzlaf halved the deficit with 5:22 left in the period by beating Fleury with a hard wrister after receiving a cross-crease feed from rookie Bobby Ryan.

"(The two goals) make it tough to come back, but we still shouldn't put ourselves in that situation from a standpoint," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We have to execute to a higher level. All they did was trap back on neutral ice, had five guys back, and we constantly want to put the puck in the middle of the ice. We can't do that. They won more 1-on-1 battles than we did."

But Gill secured the victory by converting a pass from Jordan Staal with 4:55 to go in the third. It was the 6-7 blue-liner's first goal in 40 games.

"You want to win those close games and be in those close games," Gill said. "We have enough firepower, we just have to make sure we're in those games."

The ailing Penguins also were without center Maxime Talbot and defensemen Rob Scuderi and Kris Letang.