Crosby leads Penguins to 5-2 win

The Penguins dominated from the drop of puck beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 Thursday night. Pittsburgh has earned a point in 12 of their last 14 games (10-2-2), received big games from Sidney Crosby and right winger Petr Sykora. Crosby the league’s second leading scorer had a four point night recording four assists to give him 14 points in his last 5 games. Sykora who got off to a sub-par start this season had two goals against the Hurricanes and now has three goals in four games. Goaltender Dany Sabourin made 34 saves to record his 6th win of the season

The Penguins finally got some production from Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis tonight. Fedotenko scored his 5th goal of the season in the second period and Dupuis who had gone 16 games without a goal made his way onto the score sheet tonight. His one goal performance will probably net him at least the next 10 games on the top two lines.

As a analyst of the game, how disappointing was the Carolina Hurricanes play tonight. Expected them to show a lot more emotion and be much more aggressive playing in their first game with Paul Maurice behind the bench. They were totally overmatched by the Penguins. Tuomo Ruutu is playing very well this season and the change of scenery was what he needed. Pittsburgh had a lot of interest in Ruutu at the trade deadline. Chicago wanted a Armstrong – Ruutu swap which Pittsburgh wasn’t interested in.

Janne Pesonen played 5:54 and I’m actually fine with that. Maybe he hasn’t been giving a legitimate chance on the top two lines but I just don’t see him being any more of a contributor (offensively) than Dupuis or Fedotenko. There hasn’t been much I’ve liked from him since training camp. As for Minard he was okay. Mishandled the puck at times but I thought he finished his checks well and was effective on the fore check. Wouldn’t mind seeing him get another look.

Defenseman Phillipe Boucher has been placed on IR.

Scratches: Mike Zigomanis (arm injury), Marc Andre Fleury (Groin) and Tyler Kennedy. Kennedy returned to Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of Dan4th