Stars Lose In Pittsburgh
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins were swept in a home-and-home series by their bitter cross-state rival from Philadelphia last weekend and took out their frustrations on Dallas, shooting down the Stars 5-1 on Tuesday night at the Consol Energy Center.
“We weren’t happy with those losses; we have to do better,” Penguins center Sidney Crosby said. “We wanted to make sure we went out there and played hard.”
Crosby and his linemates delivered, combining for eight points and a plus-7 rating. Crosby and right winger Lee Stempniak each had three-point nights.
Left winger Chris Kunitz contributed a goal and an assist after missing the previous two games with a lower body injury. The two points for Kunitz tied his career high of 61, and Crosby’s three points increased his lead in the NHL scoring race to 18.
Further, the Penguins improved to 25-0-2 when Crosby has multiple points.
“I think you know we were looking at our response in this game and how we
came out and (the first line) set the tone,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “They set the tone right from the start with their play and (Crosby) kind of led the way.”
The game was a reunion of sorts. The Dallas lineup featured former Penguins defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Alex Goligoski, and the Penguins had former Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen and left winger James Neal.
Pittsburgh got on the board first at 4:17 of the first period when Crosby corralled a pass from right winger Craig Adams in the slot and patiently glided across the slot on his backhand, waiting out Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen.
Once the Stars netminder went down, Crosby wired a backhander off the right post and in for his 32nd of the season.
“I thought we started the game with a couple mistakes, again, that gave Sidney (Crosby) his opportunity; those are the mistakes that we’ve got to clean up,” Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said.
Dallas evened the score at 12:30 of the first period on a beautifully deflected shot by center Tyler Seguin. Defenseman Trevor Dailey wristed a puck from the right point that was deflected straight down by Seguin in the slot. The redirected shot fooled Pittsburgh goaltender Jeff Zatkoff and was good for Seguin’s 31st goal of the season.
“I thought there were times in the game where we were skating and competing well, but it wasn’t for the full three periods tonight,” Seguin said.
Less than three minutes later, the Penguins regained the lead at 2-1. Stempniak fired a one-timer on net from the right hash mark that produced a juicy rebound off the pads of Lehtonen. Kunitz found the rebound along the goal line and lifted over Lehtonen for his 32nd of the season.
The Penguins went ahead by two at 13:21 of the second period when Stempniak fought through the check of Dallas defenseman Brenden Dillon and drove hard to the net. Once Stempniak arrived in the slot, he took a pass on his backhand from Kunitz, switched to his forehand and wristed it under the left armpit of the Dallas netminder for his first goal with the Penguins.
“It’s been a little while, nice to get a goal,” Stempniak said. “Great passing play from (Crosby) to (Kunitz). I went to the net and it was on my tape.”
Crosby stuck a dagger in Dallas when he struck again less than two minutes into the third by driving hard to the net, kicking the rebound of a Niskanen point shot up to his stick and sliding the puck into a yawning net.
Center Brandon Sutter added a short-handed goal for good measure at 12:47 of the third on a nifty backhand move that bounced off the left post, off the backside of Lehtonen and over the line.
Zatkofff made 32 saves in his 11th win of the season. Lehtonen had 27 saves in the loss.
