Monday, March 31, 2014
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Crosby's Two Goals Help Pens Put Away Blackhawks

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[March 31, 2014]  PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins seem to be over their funk, but the Chicago Blackhawks can't get out of theirs.

The Metropolitan Division-leading Penguins won their second game in three nights Sunday as center Sidney Crosby scored two goals in the final 4:41 to seal a 4-1 victory over the Blackhawks.

Crosby raised his NHL-leading point total to 99 by collecting his 35th and 36th goals.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots for the Penguins, who went 2-5-1 in their previous eight games before beating the Columbus Blue Jackets on the road Friday night. Pittsburgh (48-22-5) also avenged a 5-1 loss to the Blackhawks on March 1 at Soldier Field in Chicago that was part of the NHL Stadium Series.

"I like the compete level of our team. The game level has been high," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "You don't expect the Chicago Blackhawks to come in and play a heavy game, but I thought it was one of the most physical and hard-fought games we played all year.

"We remember that snowy night in Chicago when they took it to us. We wanted to respond, and we did."


The defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks (42-19-15) lost a third game in a row in regulation for the first time since Feb. 23-26, 2012. They have scored just eight goals in their past five games despite leading the league in scoring, and they are 1-6-1 in their past eight road games.

Already without star right winger Patrick Kane, who is out through at the least the end of the regular season with a lower-body injury, the Blackhawks lost center and captain Jonathan Toews to a lower-body injury late in the second period. Toews went to the locker room after taking a hard check from Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik along the boards.

There was no immediate word about the severity of the injury.

Meanwhile, Blackhawks left winger Bryan Bickell (upper body) sat out his eighth straight game and defenseman Michal Rozsival (lower body) missed his sixth game in a row.

"It's never easy when you lose a leader like (Toews)," Blackhawks right winger Marian Hossa said. "Obviously, we've got some big guys hurt, Patrick Kane and we'll see how bad it's going to be with Johnny. Hopefully, it's nothing big. We'll have to figure out how to play without some top guys."

Wingers James Neal (24th) and Lee Stempniak (11th) scored goals 21 seconds apart midway through the first period to put the Penguins ahead 2-0.

Fluery made the goals stand up as he won his second start in a row after snapping a personal three-game losing streak Friday.

Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz had two assists.

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Defenseman Sheldon Brookbank scored the Blackhawks' lone goal, his second, at 11:10 of the second period to cut the deficit to 2-1. However, Crosby put the game away late.

"It feels good to get that two-goal cushion," Crosby said. "They put a lot of pressure on us. I thought we did a good job, they got a couple of good chances but we blocked a lot of shots. You have to be really patient and wait for your chances. They started to take a few more risks themselves, and we were able to capitalize."

Meanwhile, the frustration level is starting to rise with the Blackhawks.

"Every night there's a different reason to why pucks are going in our net," right winger Patrick Sharp said, "but at the end of the day, we believe in each other, believe in our team and we'll find a way to get out of it."

NOTES: Penguins C Evgeni Malkin (foot), C Joe Vitale (upper body) and C Marcel Goc (ankle) were scratched. While Malkin and Goc won't be back until the playoffs, Vitale missed his sixth straight game but is skating at practice and could return before the end of the regular season. ... Penguins rookie D Olli Maatta was back in the lineup after being rested Friday night in a win at Columbus. ... Blackhawks LW Brandon Saad, a Pittsburgh native, played in a regular-season game in his hometown for the first time as Chicago made its first visit to Consol Energy Center since Dec. 20, 2011. ... Penguins LW Taylor Pyatt and Blackhawks LW Brandon Bollig each were credited with six hits, and Pittsburgh D Rob Scuderi and Chicago D Niklas Hjalmarsson both blocked four shots. ... The Penguins host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. The Blackhawks are off until Thursday night, when they host the Minnesota Wild.

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