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Crosby looks to extend point streak as Penguins battle Rangers

Nov 8, 2007 - 2:28 PM Pittsburgh (7-7-1) at Ny Rangers (7-7-1) 7:00 pm EST

NEW YORK (Ticker) - The Pittsburgh Penguins wish they were playing as well as their star player.

Sidney Crosby will look to extend his 14-game point streak when the Penguins visit the New York Rangers on Thursday in a battle of Atlantic Division foes.

Even with its 20-year-old captain producing every night, Pittsburgh has still lost five of its previous seven games. Crosby collected an assist on Ryan Malone's goal in Wednesday's 3-1 setback to the Philadelphia Flyers.

The reigning Hart Trophy winner has not been held off the scoresheet since the Penguins' season opener. Crosby has notched nine goals and 23 points this season.

Both these teams were expected to be powerhouses in the Eastern Conference, but are not off to the start that they wanted. Pittsburgh and New York are currently tied for third in the division.

The Rangers are lacking the offensive firepower that they expected when they signed Chris Drury and Scott Gomez in the offseason. They have an NHL-low 27 goals on the campaign and have relied heavily on Henrik Lundqvist.

Lundqvist has risen to the challenge, posting a 1.59 goals-against average and .940 save percentage with four shutouts on the season. The Swedish netminder has three shutouts in his last six games.

However, Lundqvist is beginning to show some signs of fatigue after starting all 15 games the Rangers have played this season. After not allowing a goal for over 159 minutes, Lundqvist yielded three goals in the third period to the Islanders in Tuesday's 3-2 loss.

Captain Jaromir Jagr will hope to get the Rangers' offense going as they have managed just 11 goals in their last five games and they have won four of those contests. Jagr has three goals and a team-leading 14 points.