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Kennedy propels Penguins past Panthers

Mar 6, 2009 - 4:43 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Tyler Kennedy scored a pair of goals to help the Pittsburgh Penguins trounce the Florida Panthers, 4-1, on Thursday.

Captain Sidney Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang also tallied for the Penguins, who extended their winning streak to five games.

"We have a lot of depth now," Kennedy said. "We have four lines that can take control of a game, and that makes us very hard to play against.

"We did all the little things tonight and that made a big difference. It was a complete team win."

Blue-liner Brooks Orpik notched two assists in support of Marc-Andre Fleury's 31-save performance for Pittsburgh.

Radek Dvorak netted the lone goal and Tomas Vokoun stopped 43 shots for the Panthers, who had won three of their previous four.

"We have to regroup," Vokoun said. "We have big games coming up and we can't mope and walk around for too long. That was a big one, but we lost it.

"Today was their game. They deserved to win but that doesn't mean anything for the next game. We just have to make sure we learn from what we did wrong and correct it for the next game."

Dvorak opened the scoring with 2:11 remaining in the second period, but Crosby leveled the contest 24 seconds later.

"There's a little more desperation now," Crosby said. "The last two months of the season, there's a higher level of hockey. The games now are typically pretty intensive and you always seem to be facing teams that are battling for a playoff spot.

"You have teams battling night in and night out, and it raises the bar, for sure. To come out of here with a win against a team playing good hockey like us is a big plus."

Kennedy gave the Penguins a lead they would not relinquish at 2:24 of the third and Letang registered his seventh goal of the season just over two minutes later.

"They're a different team than the one we saw last time we played them," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "I thought their best players were outstanding tonight.

"They had good legs, they had good jump, and they beat us to a lot of loose pucks. We hung in there for a little while and Tomas gave us a chance but the better team won. We got what we deserved."

Kennedy then secured the victory with 4:26 left in the session, taking a pass from All-Star Evgeni Malkin and firing a snap shot that sailed past Vokoun for his 11th tally of the campaign.

"It's a big confidence boost to come in here and pretty much put it all together," Kennedy said. "We did all the things you need to do, and at this time of year you want to be playing just like we did tonight."