Final
Crosby helps Penguins secure playoff berth
Apr 8, 2009 - 3:09 AM TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins looked like a playoff team for the first two periods. That wasn't the case during the third.Sidney Crosby scored twice in a 64-second span midway through second period to help the Penguins clinch a playoff berth with a 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
"I think we're all allowed to smile tonight," Penguins interim coach Dan Bylsma said.
Crosby (101) joined teammate Evgeni Malkin (NHL-leading 110), who had two assists, in reaching the 100-point mark this season. It is the first time two Pittsburgh players have reached 100 points during the same season since Mario Lemieux (161) and Jaromir Jagr (149) in the 1995-96 season.
Ruslan Fedotenko, Matt Cooke, Petr Sykora and Jordan Staal also scored for the Penguins, who are 16-3-4 under Bylsma. They are sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Jeff Halpern scored twice, and Martin St. Louis and Paul Szczechura also had third-period goals as Tampa Bay nearly erased a four-goal deficit. The Lightning have lost seven in a row and 10 of 11.
"We got away from our game and I think we realized pretty quickly no matter who we play against, if we're not playing the right way, we can be beat pretty easily," said Crosby, who was on the ice for all four Tampa Bay goals and wound up minus-4 for the game. "I think we let up. We had a few big mistakes."
Crosby made it 2-0 midway of the second period before making it a three-goal game during a breakaway 1:04 later. Both came during a power play.
Fedotenko put the Penguins up 1-0 on a backhander from the slot five minutes into the second period. Cooke scored early in the third.
A short-handed goal by Halpern, St. Louis' 30th of the season and an in-close effort from Szczechura cut the Tampa Bay deficit to 4-3 with 10:17 left in regulation. The Lightning earlier failed to score on a pair of extended 5-on-3 power plays.
Sykora's 300th career goal, coming on a rebound, gave Pittsburgh a 5-3 advantage two minutes after Szczechura's goal. It appeared that Fedotenko made contact with Lightning goalie Karri Ramo right before the goal, but Tampa Bay interim coach Rick Tocchet's argument did not sway the officials.
"The ref blew it. Plain and simple," Tocchet said. "We battled hard. We just needed a fighting chance there."
After Halpern scored with 40.6 seconds left, Staal picked up an empty-netter with 12.5 seconds to go.
Tampa Bay left wing Ryan Malone left with a broken right hand and will miss the final two games of the season. Acquired in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh, Malone finishes the season with 26 goals and 45 points.
- NHL
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
PITTSBURGH 0 3 3 6
TAMPA BAY 0 0 4 4 FINAL
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
2ND PRD: PIT - RUSLAN FEDOTENKO 16 (JORDAN STAAL, TYLER KENNEDY) 5:00
PIT - (PP) SIDNEY CROSBY 31 (CHRIS KUNITZ, EVGENI MALKIN)
10:08
PIT - (PP) SIDNEY CROSBY 32 (CHRIS KUNITZ, EVGENI MALKIN)
11:12
3RD PRD: PIT
Apr 7 10:04 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 6
TAMPA BAY 4
3RD PRD: PIT - (EN) JORDAN STAAL 22 (UNASSISTED) 19:48
Penguins 6, Lightning 4 3rd - 0:12Apr 7 10:01 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 5
TAMPA BAY 4
3RD PRD: TAM - (PP) ADAM HALL 6 (MARTINS KARSUMS, BRANDON BOCHENSKI)
19:20
Penguins 5, Lightning 4 3rd - 0:40Apr 7 9:59 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 5
TAMPA BAY 3
3RD PRD: PIT - PETR SYKORA 25 (RUSLAN FEDOTENKO) 11:43
Penguins 5, Lightning 3 3rd - 8:17Apr 7 9:41 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 4
TAMPA BAY 3
3RD PRD: TAM - PAUL SZCZECHURA 4 (UNASSISTED) 9:43
Penguins 4, Lightning 3 3rd - 10:17Apr 7 9:39 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 4
TAMPA BAY 2
3RD PRD: TAM - MARTIN ST. LOUIS 30 (STEVEN STAMKOS, LUKAS KRAJICEK)
8:59
Penguins 4, Lightning 2 3rd - 11:01Apr 7 9:37 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 4
TAMPA BAY 1
3RD PRD: TAM - (SH) JEFF HALPERN 6 (PAUL SZCZECHURA) 4:31
Penguins 4, Lightning 1 3rd - 15:29Apr 7 9:29 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 4
TAMPA BAY 0
3RD PRD: PIT - MATT COOKE 12 (JORDAN STAAL, KRISTOPHER LETANG) 1:08
Penguins 4, Lightning 0 3rd - 18:52Apr 7 9:23 PM - NHL
END OF THE 2ND 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
PITTSBURGH 0 3 3
TAMPA BAY 0 0 0 END OF THE 2ND
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
2ND PRD: PIT - RUSLAN FEDOTENKO 16 (JORDAN STAAL, TYLER KENNEDY) 5:00
PIT - (PP) SIDNEY CROSBY 31 (CHRIS KUNITZ, EVGENI MALKIN)
10:08
PIT - (PP) SIDNEY CROSBY 32 (CHRIS KUNITZ, EVGENI MALKIN)
11:12
Apr 7 9:01 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 3
TAMPA BAY 0
2ND PRD: PIT - (PP) SIDNEY CROSBY 32 (CHRIS KUNITZ, EVGENI MALKIN)
11:12
Penguins 3, Lightning 0 2nd - 8:48Apr 7 8:47 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 2
TAMPA BAY 0
2ND PRD: PIT - (PP) SIDNEY CROSBY 31 (CHRIS KUNITZ, EVGENI MALKIN)
10:08 (TWO-MAN ADVANTAGE)
Penguins 2, Lightning 0 2nd - 9:52Apr 7 8:44 PM - NHL
PITTSBURGH 1
TAMPA BAY 0
2ND PRD: PIT - RUSLAN FEDOTENKO 16 (JORDAN STAAL, TYLER KENNEDY) 5:00
Penguins 1, Lightning 0 2nd - 15:00Apr 7 8:34 PM - NHL
END OF THE 1ST 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
PITTSBURGH 0 0
TAMPA BAY 0 0 END OF THE 1ST
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
PIT 5 5
TAM 6 6
GOALIES: PIT - MARC-ANDRE FLEURY
TAM - KARRI RAMO
Apr 7 8:09 PM
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