Category: Sports

Crosby scores in return, Penguins pound Stars 5-1

Crosby scores in return, Penguins pound Stars 5-1
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby’s been around long enough to realize the issues currently plaguing the Pittsburgh Penguins can’t be solved in one shift, one period or even one game.
That sure didn’t stop the Pittsburgh captain from trying. Crosby scored a spectacular goal and set up two others during a 5-1 victory over Dallas on Wednesday night in his return to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
“I think our team gets a foot taller when he’s in our lineup because of the inspiration that he is for our group,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
For a night, it looked like it.
The Penguins began the day at the bottom of the Eastern Conference thanks to a 1-7-2 slide, unfamiliar territory for a team less than 18 months removed from back to back championships. The defense has been shaky at best and the goaltending not much better. Sullivan preached patience and on Tuesday stressed the team had no plans to abandon the frenetic style of play that has become its trademark during his hugely successful three-year tenure.
It’s a style that hardly looks out of place when Crosby’s familiar No. 87 is on the ice.
Desperately needing a spark two days removed from a nightmarish loss to Buffalo in which the Penguins gave away a three-goal lead over the final 30 minutes, Crosby provided one. He set up Jake Guentzel for a goal less than 4 minutes into the game and provided a highlight-reel marker later in the opening period when he raced down the right side, held off Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and flicked a rebound past Anton Khudobin to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 advantage just 10:04 into the game.
“I had some room to take it to the net,” Crosby said. “Sometimes they go in. Sometimes you get a save sometimes you draw a penalty. It was good to see it go in.”
Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Tanner Pearson also scored for the Penguins. Creating offense, however, is rarely an issue for Pittsburgh. The biggest development against Dallas may have been the play in front of Casey DeSmith. Pittsburgh surrendered three shots in the first period, a season-low 19 in all and didn’t get sloppy after staking him to a massive lead. DeSmith finished with 18 saves, his shutout attempt ending 7:55 into the third period when Mattias Janmark scored.
It was the lone highlight for the Stars. Khudobin, starting in place of injured Ben Bishop, stopped just 11 of 16 shots and was removed when Pearson beat him with a slap shot on a breakaway to make it 5-0. Rookie Landon Bow played well in his NHL debut, stopping all 14 shots he faced.
“Pretty embarrassing tonight,” Dallas forward Jamie Benn said. “I think we let our goalie down, and we let each other down. Tough night.”
It tends to happen when Crosby is at the top of his game. He slid a backhand pass across the ice to Guentzel for a one-timer that slipped between Khudobin’s pads to give the Penguins the lead 3:58 into the first period. Malkin’s wrist shot on the power play just over 2 minutes later doubled Pittsburgh’s advantage, the Russian star flexing as the red goal light came on.
Crosby’s ninth of the season wrapped a frantic three-goal first-period outburst by Pittsburgh against a team that had allowed just 10 goals in the first period all season.
“I don’t think I prepared our team well enough,” Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. “We weren’t ready to dig in. We weren’t ready to win faceoffs. Ultimately that preparation falls on the head coach.”
It would get no better for Dallas in the second. DeSmith denied Tyler Seguin on a breakaway and moments later Hornqvist flipped in a rebound to push it to 4-0. The sequence repeated itself when DeSmith got a pad on a shot by Janmark, leading to a breakout that ended with Pearson — acquired in a trade with Los Angeles last week — ripping a slap shot for his second goal in as many games.
“It’s a heck of a shot, the goal he scores tonight,” Sullivan said. “My hope is he’s going to gain a whole lot of confidence from scoring a couple games in a row. That was our hope when we acquired him, that he could help us in that area.”
NOTES: The Penguins went 1 for 3 on the power play. The Stars were 0 for 2 with the man advantage. … Dallas scratched Bishop (lower-body injury), D Julius Honka and F Gemel Smith. … Pittsburgh scratched D Chad Ruhwedel and F Daniel Sprong. … Pittsburgh is 6-0-1 against the Western Conference.

Josh Getzoff has the recap on the Penguins Radio Network . Press the play button below…

UP NEXT
Stars: Host Ottawa on Friday night.
Penguins: Visit Boston on Friday night.
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Penguins dominate the Stars 5-1

 

Final Score

Penguins- 5

Stars – 1

3rd Period Scoring
Dallas- Hintz

Eichel’s OT winner lifts Sabres by reeling Penguins 5-4

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jake Eichel’s shot squirted past Casey DeSmith 45 seconds into overtime as the surging Buffalo Sabres rallied to beat the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Monday night.

The Sabres won their sixth straight by overcoming a three-goal deficit. Casey Mittelstadt tied it with just over 9 minutes to go in regulation and Eichel won it with a shot from the right circle that found its way by DeSmith.

Tage Thompson, Zach Bogosian and Casey Nelson also scored for Buffalo, which has won six straight for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Carter Hutton withstood an early flurry from Pittsburgh and finished with 36 saves.

Tanner Pearson had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, his first points with Pittsburgh since being acquired in a trade with Los Angeles last week. Phil Kessel picked up his 10th for the Penguins and Jake Guentzel and Derick Brassard also scored.

DeSmith made 35 stops but spent most of the final 30 minutes under heavy duress from the Sabres. Pittsburgh has won just once in its last 10 games.

The Penguins woke up Monday tied with Florida for last place in the Eastern Conference thanks to the franchise’s longest extended funk since Sidney Crosby’s rookie season in 2005-06. Crosby missed his third straight game with an undisclosed upper-body injury but cautioned that it was far too early for Pittsburgh to panic.

And for the first 30 minutes, the Penguins did what they’ve done to Buffalo so regularly during Crosby’s tenure: they dominated.

Brassard gave Pittsburgh the lead 8:46 into the first when he beat Hutton to the stick side on a 2-on-1 for his second goal of the season. The Sabres tied it less than three minutes later on a sequence that seemed to sum up Pittsburgh’s bumpy start. Dominik Simon tripped while attempting to clear the puck near the blue line, allowing Buffalo to keep it in. Sam Reinhart whipped a cross-ice pass to Thompson, who fired a one-timer that beat DeSmith cleanly.

Pittsburgh responded when Kessel tapped in a pretty feed from Pearson with 3:45 left in the first. Guentzel put in his own rebound 1:24 into the second and Pearson followed with his first goal in 32 games as the Penguins pushed their lead to 4-1.

Yet little has come easy for Pittsburgh during the opening quarter of the season and the improved Sabres kept chipping away.

Eichel forced a turnover behind the Pittsburgh net that started a sequence that ended with Bogosian ripping a one-timer by DeSmith from the right circle. Nelson drew Buffalo within a goal with 84 seconds left in the second when Nelson’s shot from the point smacked off Pittsburgh defenseman Jack Johnson and into the net.

The Sabres continued to push, and when Mittelstadt beat DeSmith to draw even just past the midway point of the third, Buffalo had all the momentum it would need.

NOTES: Both teams went 0 for 3 on the power play. … Penguins placed C Matt Cullen on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said Cullen is out “longer term.” … Pittsburgh D Kris Letang became the second defenseman in team history to play in 700 games, joining Brooks Orpik (703). … The Penguins brought back Hall of Famer Craig Patrick to serve as a pro scout. Patrick spent 17 years as Pittsburgh’s general manager from 1989-2006, helping the franchise win consecutive Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. … Buffalo F Jason Pominville played in his 681st game with the Sabres, tying Rick Martin for ninth-most in franchise history.

UP NEXT

Sabres: Host Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Penguins: Host Dallas on Wednesday night.

Duquesne is NEC champion

Crawford pulls in winning TD pass, Duquesne is NEC champion
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — Nehari Crawford pulled in a pass over the middle from Daniel Parr and took it 56 yards for the winning touchdown with less than a half-minute to play Saturday and Duquesne defeated Central Connecticut 38-31 to win its fifth Northeast Conference title and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA FCS playoffs.
The catch on the winning TD gave Crawford 10 receptions on the day for 124 yards and placed him as the all-time leader in career catches for the Dukes (8-3, 5-1).
CCSU (6-5, 4-2) knotted the score at 31 with 5:35 to play when Jacob Dolegala, who had already passed for three touchdowns, ran it in from the 5.
Parr completed 23 of 33 passes for 277 yards and two TDs, while A.J. Hines carried the ball 31 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns
Dolegala passed for 219 yards and three touchdowns for the Blue Devils. He connected with Tyshaun James for two scores and tossed one to Aaron Dawson.

Robert Morris beat Mississippi Valley State 68-59

Petteway, Robert Morris beat Mississippi Valley State 68-59
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Malik Petteway scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help Robert Morris beat Mississippi Valley State 68-59 on Saturday night.
Petteway, who made his first start of the season, shot 10 of 11 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Josh Williams added 13 points, including four 3-pointers, and Koby Thomas had 10 points for Robert Morris (2-2).
Williams hit a 3-pointer that sparked a 20-5 run over a nearly six-minute span that gave Robert Morris a 23-12 lead midway through the first half and the Colonials led the rest of the way. They made eight consecutive field-goal attempts and Petteway scored eight points during that stretch.
Lorenzo Hunt made two free throws and then a layup to pull MVSU (0-5) within six points with three minutes to play. but Williams answered with his final 3-pointer and the Delta Devils got no closer.
Dante Scott had 16 points for MVSU, which has lost seven in a row dating to last season.