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Crosby scores deciding goal in shootout

Mar 4, 2007 - 10:12 PM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Sidney Crosby again did in the Philadelphia Flyers.

Held off the scoresheet during regulation and overtime, Crosby netted the clinching goal in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins completed a season sweep of the Flyers with a 4-3 victory.

Erik Christensen also tallied to open the shootout for Pittsburgh, which won all eight meetings from Atlantic Division-rival Philadelphia this season. Two of the wins came in shootouts.

Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer and fastest player in league history to 200 career points, ended the shootout by putting a backhander between the pads of goaltender Martin Biron.

"We needed those (two points), especially against a team that's back in the standings," Crosby said. "We can't afford to lose that one. We got two points, and hopefully we can get back to our winning ways here."

"He beat me in Buffalo coming down the right side earlier this year, so I tried to take that away from him, knowing he might be able to come back also, and then he made that quick play in the middle," Biron said. "I just got a piece of it. It was one of those where he might have flipped it on an edge to get it between my legs."

Crosby was one of the major reasons the Penguins swept their intrastate rivals. The 19-year-old star collected seven goals and nine assists in the eight meetings between the teams this season.

Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury also came up big in the shootout as he stopped Stefan Ruzicka and Scottie Upshall.

Looking to win consecutive games for just the second time since January, the Flyers built a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Mike York and Braydon Coburn.

However, the Penguins battled back in the middle session.

Gary Roberts, acquired at Tuesday's tradeline from Florida, tallied at 10:47. It was his first goal in three games with the Penguins and 14th of the season.

"We started skating a little better, started getting pucks behind their D and started creating turnovers," Roberts said. "There's no doubt when things aren't going well, you've got to simplify your game. And I thought we did that in the second period, started to turn on the momentum and started to get it back."

Christensen scored a power-play goal with 2:40 left in session, tying the game at 2-2.

"We weren't ready to play the first period," Christensen said. "They jumped on us pretty quick. We showed character in our room. We're getting better every day."

A perfect three-way passing play at 6:59 of the third period gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead. R.J. Umberger took the final pass from Ruzicka, tapping the puck past Fleury for his 16th goal.

Christensen completed his second multi-goal game of the season while on the power play by rifling a shot past Biron with 5:15 left in regulation. It was his 13th tally of the campaign.

Acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline, Biron finished with 35 saves.