Crosby’s two goals lead Penguins to 5-4 win

Playing in Philadelphia brings out the best for Sidney Crosby who had two goals and two assists to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a thrilling 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. The win was the Penguins first road win since January 13th and gets them within two points of the Buffalo Sabres who are holding onto the #8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

In a game that had a playoff atmosphere, the Penguins surrendered leads of 3-1 & 4-3, and they were given a gift from Fylers goaltender Marty Biron late in the third period. Biron who left his net to play a puck near the hashmarks, failed to cover the puck as Sidney Crosby poked the puck into a empty net to give the Penguins a 5-4 lead with 2:45 remaining in the game. Penguins goaltender Marc Andre Fleury made 23 saves on 27 shots to record the win.

Crosby 2 (23), Malkin (26), Fedotenko 2 (13) all scored for the Penguins. The Penguins will travel to Washington by train following the game.

 2/21/09 vs Philadelphia ( 2 goals Р2 assists Р4 points)

Career: | 25 GP| 20 goals – 25 assists – 45 points | +8 |

The Penguins were interested in Ruslan Fedotenko during the summer because of how well he played with star forwards Marty St. Louis and Brad Richards during his tenure with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fedotenko has had mixed results with the Penguins thus far but he may be playing to his potential with the Penguins moving to an up-tempo system. In Tampa Bay, Fedotenko flourished in John Tortorella’s up-tempo system. Fedotenko has five points in three games since the coaching change. Fedotenko is a player Penguins general manager Ray Shero is receiving some calls about.

The Good: 10 goals in the last two games: Uptempo-style is playing to the Penguins strength

The Bad: 8 GA in two games. Are giving up way too many leads in the third period.

The Ugly: Inability to clear the front of the net. Major problem all season and it continues.  

My source tells me the building was filled with scouts this afternoon. 7-8 teams had representatives in attendance. Among the teams in attendance he spotted¬†was Anaheim, NJD, Ottawa and Florida. I don’t have the rest right now. Penguins scouts are believed to be out West this weekend.

more to come