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Crosby's last-second goal lifts Penguins past Rangers

Oct 13, 2006 - 1:57 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Sidney Crosby clearly has a flair for Broadway dramatics.

Crosby scored the game-winning goal with four seconds remaining and registered three assists to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers.

The No. 1 overall selection in the 2005 draft, Crosby capped a wild third period with his second goal of the season.

The 19-year-old received Mark Recchi's feed in the right faceoff circle and snapped a bad-angle shot which deflected off Rangers defenseman Aaron Ward's skate and past goaltender Henrik Lundqvist at 19:56 of the final session.

"I knew the clock was ticking down," Crosby said. "So I just tried to put the puck to the net. I knew they only had one defenseman in front."

"With one minute left, you want your best player on the ice," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "That's why I called the timeout. Sidney is a special player. It was some kind of play. He played really well."

The electric Crosby has six goals and eight assists in just nine career games against New York. He managed two tallies in his four trips to Madison Square Garden last year and continued to victimize the Rangers on Thursday.

"It's always special coming here," he said. "It's New York City and a historical building. I remember growing up and watching the Rangers win the Cup with Mark Messier. With the atmosphere, it is fun to play in here."

Ryan Whitney scored a pair of goals in the third period and Michel Ouellet added a tally and an assist for the Penguins, who went 4-for-7 on the power play over the final two sessions.

"It got crazy, a little bit up and down," Therrien said. "But we got the last shot and got the win. It's a tough way to coach in these type of games, no doubt."

"We saw results because it was something we worked on in the last three days of practice," Crosby said of Pittsburgh's success on the power play. "When you practice things, you hope to see results. I don't think we panicked, but we had to stay patient with both teams getting penalties."

Pittsburgh's explosive offense provided just enough support for netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 37 saves.

"I don't know why, but it opened up after a while with so many power plays on both sides," he said. "I thought the guys played great in front of me, blocking shots and clearing rebounds. I like to face many shots, but I don't like allowing five goals."

Former Penguins star Jaromir Jagr had a goal and two assists while Lundqvist stopped 16 shots for the Rangers, who have yielded a total of 10 tallies in losing their last two contests.

"With all good intentions, we handed the hockey game away," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We are encouraging the right things on the bench, naturally, but in the heat of the battle, sometimes it is more difficult to execute."

New York trailed, 5-4, late in the third period when Jagr skated into the right circle and sent a cross-slot feed to Brendan Shanahan, who banged home his fourth goal of the season to forge a tie at 11:12.

It was the 602nd career tally for Shanahan, who passed Hall of Famer Jari Kurri for sole possession of 14th place on the all-time list.

Penguins rookie Jordan Staal opened the scoring at 3:23 of the middle session with a shorthanded goal off a breakaway. It was the first career tally for Staal, the second overall draft selection in June's draft.

"A couple of lucky bounces led to me picking up a pass," said the 18-year-old Staal, the younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal. "I went on a breakaway, buried my head and buried it."