Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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AP
UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Suddenly, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ standard of success has risen as quickly as their place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Just 26.8 seconds away from another productive outing, Pittsburgh allowed Mike Sillinger’s winning goal that gave the New York Islanders a 6-5 comeback victory and snapped the Penguins’ point streak at 16 games Monday.
Pittsburgh, riding a 14-0-2 surge that vaulted the Penguins from also-ran to Atlantic Division-contenders, got three goals from Ryan Malone, two from Mark Recchi and four assists from NHL scoring leader Sidney Crosby, but couldn’t survive shaky goaltending by Marc-Andre Fleury.
He will have to be better if the Penguins hope to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
“Guys in here are disappointed and upset, and that’s a good thing,” said Recchi, who added three assists. “We played three hockey games in such a short time, and to see people unhappy after losing the third one is a good sign.”
Sillinger took a pass from Andy Hilbert in the high slot and got off a shot that hit under Fleury’s glove and carried in for his 20th goal. New York, 2-1 on its seven-game homestand, rebounded from a shutout loss to New Jersey on Saturday.
“We found a way to win,” Sillinger said. “When you outscore a team like this, you’re doing something right.”
Crosby nearly set up another goal seconds earlier, but couldn’t escape Trent Hunter behind the net.
“When you score five goals on the road, you’ve got to win those games,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.
Chris Simon scored twice, Viktor Kozlov, Jason Blake and Miroslav Satan added goals, and Marc-Andre Bergeron had two assists in his Islanders debut one day after being acquired from Edmonton.
“We weren’t worried about their streak or anything, we were just kind of worried about ourselves,” forward Arron Asham said.
Pittsburgh, which led 3-1 and 5-4, hadn’t lost in regulation since Jan. 10 at Florida. It was the Penguins’ longest streak since an 18-game run in 1993 that included a league-record 17 consecutive wins.
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“Losing is never fun, but it was going to happen sometime,” said Crosby, who has three goals and 14 assists against the Islanders. “Mentally, it’s tough to go through something like that and come up short.”
Malone scored in the opening minute of all three periods, but the Penguins continued a recent pattern of blown leads and had a six-game winning streak broken.
“This was a tough one to lose,” Malone said. “We didn’t want to give one up in the last minute. We can’t be giving up three, four, five goals every game.”
Crosby is first in the league with 95 points, despite only one goal in 11 games. He has multipoint games in all six contests against New York this season, and his 31 career points in two seasons are his most against any team.
Malone gave Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead at 48 seconds of the third, putting in his rebound after a shot from Crosby bounced to him. He has 12 goals this season, six against the Islanders in the first two hat tricks of his career.
Simon broke out of a 26-game scoring drought, netting his second of the game and seventh overall 1:11 later.
Pittsburgh, which boasts the NHL’s second-youngest roster, showed no signs of fatigue early in its third game in four days.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
