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Crosby's hat trick sparks Pens' rout of Habs
posted 10/29/09
2:12 am
Chris Kunitz finished with a goal and three assists, while Bill Guerin added three helpers for Pittsburgh, which got back in the win column after having a seven-game win streak broken Saturday.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves in the victory.
Tomas Plekanec had the lone goal for Montreal, which had a four-game win streak stopped. Jaroslav Halak gave up four goals on 23 shots over the first two periods, and Carey Price let in two scores in the third.
"We didn't have very good execution, we tried to be too fancy," Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin said. "We didn't work like we need to work to be successful."
Crosby got the Penguins on the board at 8:33 of the first period, and made it a 2-0 game at the 5:08 mark of the second on a backhander from the right side.
Nearly eight minutes later, Mark Eaton blasted a shot from the center of the blue line and Halak couldn't find the rebound. Pittsburgh flooded the crease and Michael Rupp eventually poked it in net.
Then, with 4:27 left in the middle frame, Crosby completed the hat trick with a nice spin move in the crease. His initial shot was stopped, but the disc bounced off the toe of his skate and over the goal line, making it a 4-0 contest.
"I felt good, I felt like I was getting chances," Crosby said. "But I try not to think about that too much. You don't want to jinx it or think about it. But I just wanted to make sure I kept creating chances."
Plekanec got Montreal on the board with a power-play score at 5:39 of the third, but the Penguins got two tallies on the man-advantage the rest of the way to secure the victory.
Game Notes
Crosby's last hat trick came on November 29, 2008. He then also had one in Game 2 of last season's Eastern Conference semifinals against Washington...Pittsburgh was 2-for-5 on the power play, while Montreal went 1- for-3.
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