Penguinssnap skid, edge Isles

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists in the 3-2 victory.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin extended long points streaks and Georges Laraque scored for the first time in 40 games to help the Pittsburgh Penguins break a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Sergei Gonchar had a goal and an assist and Petr Sykora also scored for the Penguins, who had lost six of seven and also snapped a four-game losing streak at Mellon Arena to climb out of last place in the Atlantic Division.

Mike Comrie and Josef Vasicek scored for New York.

Malkin had two assists to extend his point streak to 12 games — with five goals and 14 assists in that time — and Crosby assisted on Laraque’s winning goal late in the second period to extend his streak to 18 games (10 goals, 18 assists). The streak is the longest of Crosby’s career and longest in the NHL this season after Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg had a 17-game streak snapped Tuesday.

As is becoming customary this season, the Penguins allowed the first goal at home when Comrie scored his sixth by deflecting a Brendan Witt shot from the point past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury while standing in front of the net with 5:43 to play in the first period.

Pittsburgh tied the game four minutes later while on a 4-on-4 when Gonchar blasted a slap shot from the point past goalie Rick DiPietro. Malkin earned the only assist on the goal, Gonchar’s fifth.

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead with a 5-on-3 goal 58 seconds into the second period after Malkin’s shot from an extreme left angle left the puck wedged between DiPietro’s skate and the post. Sykora was able to get his stick in to slam the puck in for his eighth of the season.

Vasicek tied it for New York 8:51 into the second when he corralled a Bruno Gervais wrist shot from the point before it got to Fleury and then tucked it in behind him for his sixth of the season.

But Laraque scored the winner eight minutes later. While skating down the slot, the enforcer was fed with a perfect pass from Crosby and wristed a shot high under the crossbar to DiPietro’s glove side for his first as a Penguin since being acquired from Phoenix in a February trade.

Crosby, who has scored in every game this season since being shut out in the opener, has 250 career points — 33 against the Islanders, most of any opponent.

Notes

The start of the game was delayed by about 10 minutes for a ceremony honoring former Penguins D Paul Coffey as he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. ... Penguins veterans RW Mark Recchi and D Darryl Sydor were both healthy scratches for the first time this season. ... Former Penguins stars Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr never had a concurrent point streak of more than 11 games. They did it in 1995. ... The Islanders entered the game tied for the best road power play in the NHL at 33.3 percent, but had only two chances with the extra man, neither successful.