Penguins win 7-3; Crosby has goal denied

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH, PA.

Sidney Crosby took the NHL lead with his 49th goal — losing his 50th on a post-game review — and became the third-youngest player in NHL history to reach the 500-point mark, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-3 rout of the New York Islanders on Thursday in the final regular-season game in Mellon Arena.

On a night the Penguins brought back more than 50 of their former players, coaches and executives to celebrate playing in the arena since 1967, Crosby made certain there were a few more highlights before the building known as the Igloo shuts down.

This wasn’t the final Penguins game there — the playoffs await the Stanley Cup champions — but it was one of the last in a building constructed six years before Pittsburgh was awarded an NHL expansion franchise.

The Penguins have 99 points with two games remaining, the same as second-place New Jersey in the Eastern Conference, although the Devils own the tiebreaker. The Devils lost 3-2 to Florida. Pittsburgh plays Saturday at Atlanta and Sunday at the Islanders, while the Devils are at home Saturday against the Islanders and Sunday against the third-place Sabres.

Crosby finished with four points, also assisting on a goal by Alex Goligoski and two by Bill Guerin, giving him 104 points for the season and 503 in his five-season career. The only players younger than Crosby (22 years, 244 days) to hit the 500-point mark faster were Wayne Gretzky (21 years, 52 days) and former Penguins star Mario Lemieux (22 years, 172 days).

Alex Ovechkin of Washington and Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay have 48 goals each.

Crosby put the Penguins up 4-2 with a wrist shot from the right circle with 58 seconds left in a first period that led the Islanders to replace goalie Martin Biron with Dwayne Roloson. Biron gave up four goals on 10 shots.

The Penguins, coming off three consecutive sub-par performances in which they lost to Tampa Bay and Washington and beat Atlanta in overtime, added two more goals in the second by Tyler Kennedy and Guerin.

Crosby appeared to reach the 50-goal mark on a slap shot from the right point during a Penguins power play at 14:34 of the second. The Penguins delayed announcing the goal until play was stopped so Crosby could receive a louder ovation — and, in the interim, Kennedy scored 1:07 later to make it 6-3.

However, the goal was credited instead to Guerin following a lengthy post-game video review, meaning Crosby must try for his 50th this weekend.

Crosby did get his 500th career point on the play, an assist.

Evgeni Malkin, returning after missing six of the previous seven games with a bruised right foot and an undisclosed illness, scored unassisted on a breakaway after intercepting a pass, putting Pittsburgh up 3-1 late in the first.

During the 20-minute pregame ceremony, Lemieux got the loudest ovation.