Video: Penguins Crush Rangers, Crosby Busts Loose

The Pittsburgh Penguins demolished the New York Rangers last night 8-3 at the Mellon Arena in the first of a home and home series between the teams. Sidney Crosby picked a great night to bust out of his scoring drought, ending the night with a hat trick along with a couple of assists. The 3rd period was a chippy affair with a couple of fights and several game misconducts, setting up an interesting round two when the teams meet again on Tuesday night in New York.

Marc Staal opened the scoring with his 3rd of the year on a backhand that beat Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, but Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin tied it with his 8th. Crosby got his 1st point of the night. Three minutes later, Crosby scored his 1st of the night, beating Rangers netminder Stephen Valiquette with a laser from the slot.

Less than a minute later it was 3-1 Pittsburgh as Crosby passed to Maxime Talbot who barged through the slot area and deked Valiquette for his 1st goal of the year. Matt Gilroy got the Rangers back within one with a wrist shot that beat Fleury but Mark Eaton restored Pittsburgh's 2 goal cushion scoring with just one second left in the 2nd period.

Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival scored his 1st goal this year at 0:33 of the 3rd, but then the Pens delivered several knock out blows, scoring 4 unanswered goals to run the score up to 8-3 by the mid-point of the 3rd. Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke delivered a big elbow to the head of Rangers' rookie center Artem Anisimov (at about 6:00 on the video below) that will likely be reviewed by NHL officials. Cooke blindsided Anisimov with an elbow to the head as he crossed into the Penguins zone.



About this time, with the game quickly slipping away, the Rangers started getting penalties, starting with seldom used Donald Brashear getting a double minor for roughing. Ryan Callahan fought with Matt Cooke and both were tossed after receiving misconducts.

Meanwhile, the Penguins continued rolling on, with Crosby scoring his 14th and 15th, sandwiched around a goal by Pascal Dupuis. Following Crosby's 3rd of the night, the Penguins faithful rained the ice with hundreds of hats - it was Hat Night in Pittsburgh. Tyler Kennedy finished off the scoring with a tip-in. Both Crosby's and Kennedy's goals were on the power play. Then it was the Sean Avery show.



Rangers left winger Sean Avery received a 5 minute fighting major, an instigator penalty and a game misconduct after jumping Pittsburgh's Ruslan Fedotenko. In the video, you can see Fedotenko's attempt at a slew foot on Avery as he battled in front of Fleury. Avery dropped his gloves and jumped on Fedotenko's back, driving him to the ice.

All this nastiness sets up a good game on Tuesday, when the divisional rivals renew pleasantries.