Isles Can’t Slow Down Red-Hot Crosby, Pens
December 16th, 2006 by murph
Just two days after abusing the Flyers for a goal and 5 assists in a career high 6 point game, Sidney Crosby led the streaking Penguins to their fourth straight win 7-4 over the Islanders last night. Crosby had a goal and 3 assists, giving him 10 points in the past two games. Ryan Malone was the lucky recipient of those 3 Crosby assists for the hat trick.
The Islanders defense continues to play poorly, and the team can’t stay out of the penalty box either. The Pens’ PP was 1 for 10, which is a pretty good night for the Isles’ PK - but 10 penalties are way too many. The Islanders PK unit ends up being on the ice and playing defensively too much for the offense to get any rhythm. Not to blame the refs for the loss, but some of those calls were pretty questionable while other Pittsburgh infractions were let go.
The Isles were outshot 29-13 in the first two periods and trailed 5-1. Coach Nolan replaced DP with Dunham to rest DP for tonight’s game. Malone made it 6-1 eight minutes into the third beating Dunham. The Isles made it a little interesting with a 3 goal rally in a three minute span, including two PP goals. Poti (PP), Blake (PP), and York scored to make it 6-4. The Isles PP was 3/6 on the night, a definite improvement over past efforts. Malone iced the game with his hat trick with less than five minutes to play. The Isles and Pens end up splitting four games in three weeks with each other.
Bad, bad night for the Isles, other than the PP performance. After five days off, they should have been rested and ready. Now they have to host the Southeast Division leading Thrashers tonight. Hopefully Yashin will return, but even if he doesn’t, the Islanders need to right the ship with a win.
