Crosby's 100th Point Helps Penguins Win

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Sidney Crosby scored a milestone game-tying goal but was relegated to
hearing the crowd roar for the game winner from the locker room.

Colby Armstrong scored 1:19 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins
came back from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat the New York
Rangers 3-2 on Saturday.

Crosby had tied the game at 2 for his 100th point of the season with
13:04 to play, becoming the youngest player in NHL history with two
100-point seasons. But equipment problems sent him to the locker room
after regulation.

"It sucks," Crosby said of having to miss overtime. "I have a lot of
trust in the guys, but I want to be out there, especially in overtime
... and I'm just sitting there. It's hard just watching."

Armstrong made it a pleasant watch, however, by scoring his third
overtime goal this season, tying a team record. Evgeni Malkin added a
goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which has come-from-behind in each
of its past five victories.

Karel Rachunek and Matt Cullen scored for the Rangers, who have earned
at least a point in each of their past six games.

"We came back, and (the players) showed a lot of character again,"
said Penguins assistant coach Andre Savard, who was running the team
because Michel Therrien was attending his father's funeral. "They
battled hard in the third period and overtime, and we did get the win.
Obviously, we don't make it easy."

The win came in part because Maxime Talbot made a good play to keep
the puck in the zone and got the puck to Armstrong, who took a wrist
shot from the right boards that deflected off Rangers defenseman Marek
Malik's stick and squeezed between goalie Henrik Lundqvist and the
near post.

"Mark tried to make the right play and cut off the pass," Lundqvist
said. "It's just unfortunate that it goes in the net. But it was not
there where we made the mistake. We have to clear the puck before that."

Crosby, who had just missed making it back onto the ice for the start
of the extra period, downplayed the significance of his 100th point.
He came into the game with only two points in his past six games and
two goals in his past 19 but still has a comfortable lead in the
league scoring race.

"It's never something I think about," Crosby said of 100 points. "It's
nice, for sure, but there's a lot of games left _ important ones _ and
that's where my mind has been."

Pittsburgh has played in four consecutive games that were decided
after the end of regulation. Heading into the contest, the Penguins
had played in four shootouts in five games _ winning three, including
March 1 against the Rangers.

Crosby, who does not turn 20 until August 7, scored his 28th of the
season while on a power play three minutes after the Penguins cut the
lead to 2-1. He also has 72 assists in 65 games this season.

The Rangers had been 21-3-4 when leading after two periods but blew
their second two-goal, third-period lead to Pittsburgh in 10 days and
missed an opportunity to move into a tie for eighth place in the
Eastern Conference.

"We had enough power plays (five) to put the game away," New York
coach Tom Renney said. "As we didn't do that and became a bit
frustrated, we overextended ourselves a little bit and took penalties
ourselves. It comes down to our game and how we have to play."

Rachunek scored with 45 seconds to play in the opening period, and
Cullen gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead 1:11 into the second after what
looked like a soft wrist shot from just inside the blue line snuck
past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for his 13th goal.

The Penguins began their comeback when Malkin cut the New York lead to
2-1 with a power-play goal 3:32 into the third period. Taking a pass
from Ryan Whitney while above the right face-off circle, Malkin
hesitated before firing a slap shot _ using Rachunek as a screen _
past Lundqvist.

"We played a little more desperate in the third period," said
defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who assisted on both third-period goals.

That set the stage, again, for the overtime heroics of Armstrong, who
has only seven goals in regulation this season but tied the likes of
Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Crosby for most overtime winners in a
season in team history.

"It feels pretty good, obviously, to get a winner there and cap a
comeback," Armstrong said.

"But everyone knows we have to play better for 60 minutes."

Rangers forward Jaromir Jagr did not play after the second
intermission because of a sore right leg that he injured in Thursday's
win over the Islanders. After the game, he said he hopes to play
Sunday against Carolina.