Crosby, Christensen lead Pens over Isles

Jan 17, 2007, 3:30 GMT

Pittsburgh, PA - Sidney Crosby and Erik Christensen notched a pair of goals each, lifting the Pittsburgh Penguins over the New York Islanders, 5-2, at Mellon Arena.

Michel Ouellet picked up a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have won two in a row after a three-game losing streak. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots to post his 19th victory of the season.

Richard Park and Arron Asham tallied for the Islanders, who have lost three straight and nine of 11. Mike Dunham made only 17 saves in the loss, his first start since January 2nd.

Crosby put the home team on top, 3-2, 3:28 into the third, slamming home a loose puck at the side of the net. Prior to the goal, the young star fanned from that same spot when a point shot deflected off the crossbar and post behind Dunham and kicked out to where he was stationed.

Christensen provided some breathing room at 8:45, when his relatively harmless shot from 50 feet through a teammate's screen found its way past Dunham on the short side for a 4-2 Pens advantage.

With 6:15 to play, it was a 5-2 game when Crosby netted his 23rd goal of the year. The young phenom was the trailing skater on a 2-on-1 opportunity with Mark Recchi, and when the veteran's shot was turned aside by Dunham's pad, Crosby was right there to stash the rebound home.

'After two periods, they had 10 shots on goal, and it was 3-2,' said Islanders head coach Ted Nolan. 'I don't know what else we have to do. We outhit them, outchanced them, and outshot them. It's just one of those things at the end.'

Tensions ran high in the final seconds, as New York's Jason Blake speared Crosby in the stomach after a scrum along the boards in the Islander zone. Crosby defended himself from the illegal action, yet was called for a retaliation penalty.

'The spearing at the end of the game is unacceptable to us,' said Penguins head coach Michel Therrien. 'We're really upset to see a cheap shot, and on top of that, we're the ones who got penalized on it. I hope the NHL will make the right call. We're not going to accept our best player getting hurt.'

Christensen recorded his first goal in seven games and the only score of the first period, just 2:32 into the game.

The Islanders were scoreless in five power-play attempts in the first, but picked up the tying tally at 1:57 when Park struck for an unassisted shorthanded goal, his fifth of the season.

The Pens went on top 2-1 on their fourth power-play chance of the middle period. From a goalmouth scramble, the puck found its way to Evgeni Malkin whose shot from a sharp angle caromed off Dunham out to Ouellet at the right circle, and he hit the open net at 11:35.

A pair of tough guys drew the Isles even at 2-2 with 2:16 to go. Chris Simon chased down a dump-in along the left boards and, with two defenders drawn to him, whipped a pass in front to a wide-open Asham for the easy tip-in.

Game Notes

The Pens have won five of the last seven meetings.

Pittsburgh is 4-2 against New York this season, outscoring them by 23-18.

New York finished 0-for-8 on the power play, while Pittsburgh was 2-for-8.

Pens defenseman Sergei Gonchar picked up an assist on Crosby's first goal, tying him with Recchi for second on the team with 26.

It was Crosby's fourth multi-goal outing of the season, and second in the month of January.

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