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Sykora, Dupuis help Penguins trounce Islanders

Dec 12, 2008 - 5:19 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The slumping Pittsburgh Penguins found the perfect tonic for their recent woes - the lowly New York Islanders.

Petr Sykora and Pascal Dupuis recorded their first career hat tricks as the Penguins snapped a three-game losing streak with a 9-2 thrashing of the Islanders on Thursday.

Former Islander Miroslav Satan scored a power-play goal and added two assists, defenseman Philippe Boucher recorded his first tally of the season and Evgeni Malkin netted a goal and set up another to increase his league-leading points total to 48.

"That kind of game helps our confidence, for sure," said captain Sidney Crosby, who recorded three assists. "We played well (during the losing streak), we played awful for just one game. We wouldn't think it was the end of the world, so we're not going to think everything's OK just because one game went well. We had some goals, we did some great things, but it's just two points."

Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and blue-liners Alex Goligoski and Rob Scuderi registered two apiece for the Penguins, who eclipsed their season high for goals in a contest. The previous mark came in a 7-6 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings on November 11.

"There's no doubt it's fun for our club to have a game like this," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "We capitalized on our chances. It's nice to see two guys get their first hat tricks in the NHL. ... It was a team effort. It was fun to be a part of it."

Defensemen Mark Streit and Andy Sutton scored for the Islanders, who have lost five in a row and seven of their last eight.

The Penguins scored four goals in each the first and second periods to take a commanding lead.

With Pittsburgh already ahead, 1-0, thanks to Dupuis' ninth goal at 6:25 of the first, Satan scored his 11th of the season with 6:11 left by tucking a loose puck into a vacant net from near the left goalpost. It was his second goal in 10 games and first power-play tally in 18 contests.

"We talked about getting the first goal tonight, and playing with a lead for a change would be nice," Dupuis said. "We ended up getting the first goal, and then we started rolling right there."

The teams combined for three goals in a span of 50 seconds late in the period, beginning with Streit's one-timer that beat rookie goaltender John Curry during a man advantage with 2:31 remaining. That tally halved New York's deficit, but Sykora restored the two-goal lead just 11 seconds later and Boucher capped the outburst with 1:41 to go, giving the Penguins a 4-1 bulge.

"It was tough," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. "We were playing against a team that was on a mission tonight."

During the teams' previous meeting on November 26 in New York, Pittsburgh scored four goals in the third period en route to a 5-3 victory. It extended its run of four-goal sessions to three in the middle period of this one against Yann Danis, who came on for Joey MacDonald after the Islanders' starting netminder stopped 15-of-19 shots in the first.

"It was just one of those games," MacDonald said. "There were back-door passes, guys in the slot. ... That's just the way it was. But I've got to be better."

Malkin tallied 2:12 into the second and Sykora netted the next two - both on the power play - to complete his hat trick. The veteran Czech entered the contest with 38 career two-goal performances in 871 career games.

"Now I don't have to talk to (the media) all the time about it after scoring two goals," Sykora said. "It is a relief. As much as I was saying that it didn't bother me, it did bother me. And now I feel pretty good."

Dupuis, who had scored just one goal in his previous 19 contests, added his second of the game with 31 seconds left in the period to give the Penguins an 8-1 lead. He then capped his first hat trick in 461 career games with a tally with 3:12 left in the third.

The previous time two Penguins registered hat tricks in the same game was April 9, 1993, when Mario Lemieux and Joey Mullen accomplished the feat against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

"(Sykora's wait for his hat trick) was a little longer than mine," Dupuis said. "But I think we'll both probably always remember this game because we both scored our first hat trick."

Sutton's goal, his first since December 29, with 6:54 to go in the third ended Pittsburgh's run of six straight tallies.

Lost in all the offense was Curry, who posted his second career win by stopping 24 of 26 shots.

"It's easy to play with confidence when you get a big lead like that," Curry said. "I've been on the other end, and that's pretty awful, so I'm glad to be on the winning end. I'm happy with the way the guys played and happy with the result."