Panthers top reeling Penguins

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nathan Horton scored twice and the Florida Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday that sent the Penguins to their fourth straight loss.

Ville Peltonen, Bryan McCabe, Richard Zednik and Michael Frolik also scored for Florida, which pulled to within three points of the Penguins for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored for Pittsburgh, which has lost 10 of 14 and five straight at home. Florida goalie Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots.

Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby got into the second fight of his career late in the second period and was assessed 19 penalty minutes on the play. Crosby, who a few minutes earlier was involved in a scrum with Gregory Campbell, pummeled Florida’s Brett McLean right off the faceoff with 2:59 left in the second.

Crosby, whose only other fight came against Boston’s Andrew Ference last season, threw his gloves off and grabbed an apparently unsuspecting McLean, who was kneeling over to take the faceoff. McLean eventually was able to drop his gloves and attempted a few swings but did not connect on any.

Crosby was given two minutes each for instigating and unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct in addition to a fighting major. His aggravation level had been growing in recent weeks as the Penguins have lost six of eight with their captain getting four points in that time.

It came to a boiling point after the Panthers scored on four of their first 10 shots — including two on only five first-period shots against Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury.

Story appears in Sunday’s edition.