Print

Mail

wiki links

Penguins' Crosby strikes twice

Sidney Crosby, center, of the Penguins, fans a shot in front of Islanders goalie Rick Di Pietro, left, as Shawn Bates, right, defends with Janne Niinimaa during the first period at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on Thursday. Pittsburgh defeated New York 5-1 as Candian rookie Crosby scored two goals in the game -- the first time in his NHL career. PHOTO: AP

Sidney Crosby had his first two-goal game in the National Hockey League and set up another Pittsburgh score, and the Penguins rode a rare early lead to a 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Crosby, the No. 1 pick in this year's draft, had a goal and an assist in the first period and scored again in the third off a brilliant pass from Mario Lemieux for his second three-point game in 13 contests.

Erik Christensen added his first NHL goal, and John LeClair and Mark Recchi also scored for Pittsburgh. Alexei Yashin scored for New York.

Flyers 8, Capitals 1

At Philadelphia, Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Jon Sim each scored twice, Mike Knuble and Peter Forsberg also scored and Robert Esche had 29 saves for the Flyers.

Philadelphia has won three of its last four games and five straight at home.

Chris Clark had the only goal for Washington, which has lost six of eight. The Capitals haven't won in Philadelphia since 1998, going 0-1-14 in that span.

The Flyers, already missing captain Keith Primeau because of a concussion, lost defenseman Eric Desjardins to a concussion. His status wasn't immediately known.

Hurricanes 4, Maple Leafs 3

At Raleigh, North Carolina, Erik Cole scored with 1:34 left in regulation as Carolina rallied to win its sixth consecutive game.

Eric Staal regained the NHL scoring lead with two goals and an assist, and Cole added an assist to help Carolina (9-2-1) improve to 6-0 at home.

Alexander Steen had a pair of goals and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who lost for the third time in four games. Matt Stajan added a goal and an assist.

Bruins 4, Panthers 1

At Boston, Hannu Toivonen made 15 saves in the third period and finished with 29 to help the Bruins improve to 3-0-4 in their last seven games.

Brad Boyes, Glen Murray, Jiri Slegr and Travis Green scored for the Bruins, and Sergei Samsonov added two assists. Joel Kwiatkowski had the lone goal for Florida, winless in its last four games.

Rangers 4, Devils 2

At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Jaromir Jagr scored his NHL-leading 13th and 14th goals of the season and Michael Nylander also had two goals for New York.

Kevin Weekes made 30 saves in his first appearance since giving up three goals on the first three shots in the Rangers' 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders on Oct. 20.

Jamie Langenbrunner and Brian Gionta scored for New Jersey, and Scott Clemmensen made 21 saves in his fourth straight start while Martin Brodeur recovers from a sprained right knee. The game ended Brodeur's streak of 68 consecutive starts, including the playoffs, against the Rangers.

Oilers 4, Red Wings 3, OT

At Detroit, Raffi Torres scored 1:51 into overtime for Edmonton to end the Red Wings' nine-game winning streak.

Shawn Horcoff had a goal and an assist for Edmonton, Ryan Smyth and Fernando Pisani also scored, and Chris Pronger added three assists.

Tomas Holmstrom scored twice for the Red Wings (12-0-2). Jason Williams had a goal and an assist, and Pavel Datsyuk had two assists. Detroit's nine-game winning streak tied a franchise record.

Senators 4, Lightning 2

At Ottawa, Martin Havlat and Daniel Alfredsson scored goals for Ottawa, one night after each tied the team record with four goals.

Dany Heatley, who scored Ottawa's other two goals in a 10-4 victory in Buffalo on Wednesday, assisted on Alfredsson's first-period goal to extend his team-record points streak to 12 games to begin the season.

Wade Redden and Mike Fisher also scored for the Senators, and Dominik Hasek stopped 31 shots to improve to 7-0-2. Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards scored power-play goals for Tampa Bay.

Avalanche 4, Mighty Ducks 3

At Denver, Antti Laaksonen had two goals for Colorado and Joe Sakic also scored to move into a tie for 14th place on the NHL's career points list.

Sakic put Colorado up 3-1 in the second period, tying Doug Gilmour with his 1,414th point, and Laaksonen sealed Colorado's fourth straight win on a short-handed goal with 4:42 left. Sakic has 547 goals and 867 assists.

Coyotes 4, Kings 0

At Glendale, Arizona, Curtis Joseph made 21 saves for Phoenix against Los Angeles for his second shutout of the season and 45th of his career.

Defenseman Paul Mara had a goal and two assists, Shane Doan and Mike Leclerc had a power-play goal and an assist each, and Krys Kolanos also scored for the Coyotes.

Flames 2, Blue Jackets 1

At Calgary, Alberta, Marcus Nilson scored the winning goal and assisted on Steve Reinprecht's goal to help Calgary edge Columbus and win consecutive games for the first time this season.

David Vyborny scored for Columbus, 1-7 on the road.

Jacques Demers, who coached the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup in 1993 and was later a general manager in the NHL, admits in a newly released biography that he is illiterate.

"I could read a little bit but I can't write very well," Demers said at a party for the book's launch. "I took to protecting myself. You put a wall around yourself. And when I was given the possibility of talking, I could speak well and I think that really saved me."

In the book Jacques Demers: En Toutes Lettres, which roughly translates to "All Spelled Out," Demers said his inability to read and write was the result of an abusive and impoverished childhood.

"All I wanted from my father was to treat me with love," Demers said. ``Not to beat me up when I did something wrong. Not to beat up my mom. It really hurt me because he took away my childhood.

"The other thing I wanted to say was that if I could not write or read, it was because I had so much of a problem with anxiety because of the things going on in the family. I couldn't go to sleep at night. I'd go to school and I couldn't learn anything."

The book, which was released Wednesday, was written by Canadian journalist Mario Leclerc.
This story has been viewed 1619 times.