NEW YORK, 31 December 2005 — Rookie Sidney Crosby scored a pair of goals and set up another to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils at Mellon Arena on Thursday, the win snapping a six-game losing streak.
Overlooked for a spot on Canada’s Olympic squad for the Turin Winter Games, Crosby might be giving selectors second thoughts after recording his second two-goal game in three contests. Tomas Surovy also netted a pair for the Penguins and Ric Jackman and Mark Recchi added singles to help give Michel Therrien his first win since taking over for as coach for Eddie Olczyk, who was sacked two weeks ago.
Scott Gomez tallied twice for the struggling Devils, who have lost four of their last five games. Pittsburgh got the contest off to a storming start and led 2-0 after the first period on goals from Jackman and Crosby. The Penguins doubled their advantage in the second before Gomez finally got New Jersey on the scoreboard, converting a power play with just over seven minutes remaining in the period.
In Raleigh, Sami Kapanen scored the overtime winning goal for the second straight game, lifting the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
In Toronto, Alexei Ponikarovsky scored in regulation and again in a shootout as the Maple Leafs cooled off the red-hot Buffalo Sabres 4-3 to claim their fourth consecutive win.
In Dallas, Marty Turco stopped 17 shots to earn his third shutout of the season and Bill Guerin, Sergei Zubov and Jere Lehtinen each scored a power-play goal in lifting the Stars to 3-0 win over the St. Louis Blues.
In Glendale, Keith Ballard scored a shorthanded goal in overtime to earn the Phoenix Coyotes a 6-5 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
It was the second straight one-goal win for Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky since returning to the bench following a 10-day leave of absence to be with his mother who passed away from lung cancer.
In Calgary, Shean Donovan had a goal and setup another as the Flames rallied for three unanswered goals to dispose of the Minnesota Wild 4-2.
