Pens clinch divison, have conference edge

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored goals for Pittsburgh .

PITTSBURGH (AP) — During a season in which numerous injuries to key players gave the Pittsburgh Penguins every reason to lose, they wound up as division champions. They might not be done yet, either, with the Eastern Conference title theirs to win, too.

Sidney Crosby scored twice and Evgeni Malkin netted the go-ahead goal for the Penguins, who clinched their first division title in 10 years with a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday night.

The Penguins secured the Atlantic Division title only two years after they had the Eastern Conference’s worst record and the NHL’s second-worst mark. They also overtook idle Montreal for the East lead by two points. The Canadiens have two games remaining, at home tonight against Buffalo, and Saturday against Toronto. Pittsburgh ends the regular season Sunday at Philadelphia.

“We ended up losing Crosby [for 28 games] and Marc-Andre Fleury [for three months] and so many other guys during the course of the season, and we were just trying to focus and maintain our position to make the playoffs,” coach Michel Therrien said. “The guys surprised me with their commitment.”

Pittsburgh hadn’t won a division title since taking the Northeast in 1997-98, the season after Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux retired for the first time.

“It’s huge. To win at home and win the division against a rival, I’ll bet everyone in here will say it’s our best win of the season, and Sunday could even top that,” defenseman Ryan Whitney said.

The Penguins, winning their eighth in a row at home to assure themselves of no worse than the No. 2 seed in the conference playoffs, trailed 2-1 after the first before turning to their two stars for the game’s two biggest goals.

All four Penguins goals came on the power play as they went 4-for-6 to Philadelphia’s 1-for-5.

Only 19 seconds after Crosby drew a charging penalty from Scott Hartnell that put the Flyers down two men, Crosby took Sergei Gonchar’s pass and beat goalie Martin Biron with a one-timer from a bad angle along the edge of the right circle. It was Crosby’s first goal in four games since returning from a seven-game layoff due to a sprained ankle and his first at home since Jan. 3. He added the 24th of his injury-interrupted season late in the third.

Gonchar scored Pittsburgh’s first goal midway through the first and had two assists. Malkin made it 3-2 later in the period when the Flyers apparently thought he was going to the bench after being on the ice for 11‚Ñ2 minutes of a power play.

Instead, Malkin swooped in after two Flyers collided with Pittsburgh’s Ryan Whitney near the top of the left circle, grabbed the puck and beat Biron with a hard wrist shot for his 47th goal, making it 3-2.

Crosby scored again by redirecting Sergei Gonchar’s pass from the right point with 1:34 remaining.