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Sykora, Crosby lead Penguins to comeback win over Hurricanes

Oct 20, 2007 - 4:05 AM By Vince Comunale PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Carolina Hurricanes had things under control for nearly 38 minutes. Then Petr Sykora and Sidney Crosby took over.

Sykora tied the game late in the second period with his second goal of the game and Crosby netted the deciding tally in a shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Hurricanes on Friday.

Crosby added two assists and Dany Sabourin made 29 saves for the Penguins, who had lost their previous two home games.

"He played well," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said of Sabourin. "He made some key saves during the penalty-killing in the third period and he gave us the chance to win and stay in the game."

Sykora knotted the contest at 3-3 in the waning seconds of the second period with a power-play goal. Neither team was able to surge ahead before the shootout, which saw the first five participants cash in.

Erik Christensen - who was playing in his 100th career game - and Matt Cullen scored on similar moves in the first round before Sykora and Jeff Hamilton lifted in backhanders in the second.

"I had no plan, really, but he tried to pokecheck me, so I had no choice but to go to the backhand," Sykora said. "I skate in and whatever happens, happens. When I decide what I am going to do, it never works."

On Pittsburgh's third attempt, Crosby skated in and stopped in front of goaltender Cam Ward, who tried to poke away the puck.

But the Penguins captain avoided the move and slid the puck around the netminder, giving Pittsburgh a 3-2 edge in the bonus format.

"I watched (Christensen's) move all the way, just took a page out of his book a bit," Crosby said. "You've got to just trust your move and hope it works. Sometimes it's not going to work. Maybe a different night, I lose the puck or the goalie comes up with a big save. But the main thing is to trust what you're going to do."

Crosby was not overly confident against Ward in the shootout.

"He's a great goalie," Crosby said. "I remember my first year, I think it was me, Mario (Lemieux) and Ziggy (Palffy) in his first game and he stopped all three of us (in a shootout). He's been having a great season so far. We were fortunate enough to beat him."

Sabourin made Crosby's tally stand, snagging Ray Whitney's shot with his glove to seal the victory.

"That was a great feeling," Sabourin said. "First win, glove save. Our guys worked really hard tonight and they did three good moves against Ward.

"I never saw those guys against me in a shootout, so I didn't know what they were going to do. Rex (Mark Recchi) gave me some clue, and he was right. They are really patient and they want to make you go down before they shoot. They were coming slow, and not all players do that, so that was a good experience for me."

The scoring started early in this one.

Just 52 seconds into the contest, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar was called for hooking. It took the Hurricanes just seven seconds to capitalize on the ensuing power play, as Whitney received a pass from Cullen and slapped the puck over the left shoulder of Sabourin from just above the left faceoff circle, giving Carolina a 1-0 lead.

Captain Rod Brind'Amour recorded an assist on the play, moving him past Dave Taylor for 56th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,070 points.

With less than 10 seconds remaining on the Hurricanes' second power-play opportunity of the night midway through the first period, Ryan Malone gathered the puck at center ice and broke in alone on Ward. Malone appeared to lose control of the puck as he shifted to his backhand and Ward easily knocked away the puck with his stick.

The Hurricanes got a breakaway chance of their own when Erik Cole skated in on Sabourin with just over five minutes left in the session. Cole unleashed a hard wrist shot, but Sabourin reacted quickly, sliding to his right and making a pad save.

Pittsburgh evened the game with 62 seconds remaining in the period, when Sykora netted his 250th career goal.

The reigning Hart Trophy winner, Crosby attempted a wraparound at the left goalpost that was denied by Ward. Sykora swooped in and backhanded the rebound past the goalie from the low slot, knotting the contest at 1-1.

Carolina regained the lead at 3:57 of the second as the trio of Brind'Amour, Justin Williams and Trevor Letowski broke in on a 3-on-1. Sabourin stopped Brind'Amour's initial shot as well as his rebound chance before Letowski finally scored on a backhander from the bottom of the left circle.

Williams made it 3-1 with 4:40 to go, grabbing a loose puck in the neutral zone and carrying it across the blue line before beating Sabourin to the stick side with a wrister from the slot.

With 2:34 remaining in the second, Carolina's Scott Walker skated to the bench but fell to his knees before reaching it. He remained on the ice for several minutes before being helped to the locker room.

Walker was taken to a local hospital for observation with what was described as a torso injury.

"I just hope that Walks is OK," Cole said. "Obviously, you're concerned for your teammate. He gets chopped down on the ice and by the time he gets to the bench, he can't really even stand up. He was out of it, couldn't breathe."

Pittsburgh rallied for two late goals in the period to forge a tie.

Adam Hall began the comeback at 17:54, backhanding a rebound past Ward from the doorstep for his first tally of the season. Sykora drew the Penguins even exactly two minutes later, converting the rebound of Gonchar's one-timer from the blue line with another backhander during a 5-on-3 power play.

"That's the way it goes sometimes," said Sykora, who still is in search of his first career hat trick. "Sometimes you get your bounces and the puck goes in, and sometimes you have breakaways and it doesn't. I had a breakaway and didn't score and then a 2-on-1 to win the game and didn't score. Tonight, I just went to the net and got a couple rebounds."

"We've been in these spots a lot so far this year and it's just unfortunate that we didn't finish the job in the third period," Hurricanes defenseman Glen Wesley said. "We had some chances and, unfortunately, we didn't cash in."

Brind'Amour notched a pair of assists and Ward stopped 26 shots for Carolina, which had its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-2-0 on its six-game road trip.

"It's disappointing when you lose," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "There were two points at stake on the table and we walked away with one, so that's disappointing."