Crosby didn’t get a hat trick tonight, but he did have two goals and two assists in the Penguins’ 6-3 rout of the Thrashers. Tonight marked the first time all season that Ondrej Pavelec has allowed more than four goals, and chances are good that Pavs might need a few excellent games to get his stats to recover from tonight’s.
Just nine seconds into the period, Chris Kunitz wristed a goal past Pavelec to make the game 4-2. Thirteen minutes later, Mark Letestu got a puck past Pavs, and three minutes and sixteen seconds after that, Matt Cooke tipped a Sidney Crosby shot in to put the Penguins up by four. Eric Boulton scored to bring Atlanta within three, but it was too late.
The Penguins proved why they’re the Eastern Conference’s best team tonight. Washington’s win puts them back into first place, and the Thrashers are now five points back of something that they held as recently as last Tuesday. The Thrashers will have Thursday night to make up some ground if they can defeat the Boston Bruins, which might be a bit more stressful of a matchup than usual, considering the line brawl that broke out last game.