Sidney Crosby scored his seventh career hat trick tonight and his first natural hat trick (three goals in order without anyone scoring between his) by netting two more goals. One was a Crosby break-away just 4:24 into the second period, and his third was an outstanding re-direct of a Brooks Orpik shot that looked to be going very well wide of the goal, but was aimed squarely at Crosby’s stick. He redirected it past Ondrej Pavelec who didn’t have time to react.
Thankfully at the end of the period, after a penalty kill for a hooking call on Tobias Enstrom, Nik Antropov got one past Marc-Andre Fleury for his seventh goal of the season. The offense in general, though, have looked flat and are obviously missing the energy that Evander Kane brings to the line-up. Freddy Meyer is playing well enough, but he’s not a fully effective plug-in for Kane.