Sidney Crosby, Penguins get fourth straight win

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Pittsburgh Penguins used a rare quick start Thursday to defeat the Florida Panthers.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and the Penguins scored three goals in the first eight minutes on their way to a 5-1 victory at BB&T Center. Pittsburgh matched its season high with its fourth consecutive victory.
It was the first time in eight games the Penguins led after the first period.
"It was nice to start with the lead," Crosby said. "It was kind of weird the way things worked out. We didn't have many shots, but we had a few goals right off the bat. They had their chances too in the first. We gave up a few odd-man rushes and had to kind of settle in, but once we did, I thought we did a pretty good job of just playing the right way."

WATCH: All Penguins vs. Panthers highlights
Conor Sheary had a goal and an assist, and Tom Kuhnhackl, Matt Cullen and Carl Hagelin scored for the Penguins (17-7-3). Justin Schultz and Scott Wilson each had two assists, and goalie Matt Murray, making his first start in four games, made 28 saves.

Jaromir Jagr scored for the Panthers (12-12-4), who were playing their first game at BB&T Center since Tom Rowe replaced Gerard Gallant as coach. Roberto Luongo made 25 saves.
The Panthers have lost five of six games (1-2-3) since Rowe took over.
"I thought we showed them way too much respect in the beginning of the game," Rowe said. "We were back on our heels a little bit. Obviously, they've got two of the best players in the world, and I think it could have intimidated some of our younger guys a little bit. The three goals they got were all goals that we had defensive breakdowns. I guess the good thing is those are easy things to fix. We'll be fine."
The goal was the 1,882th point of Jagr's NHL career, putting him five behind Mark Messier for second place on the League's all-time list.

Crosby's goal was his 18th of the season, tying him for first in the NHL with David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins. He opened the scoring at 3:06 when he skated from the bottom of the right circle to the high slot and beat Luongo with a wrist shot with Patric Hornqvist providing a screen.
"We thought our start was going to be important with some of the adversity this team is facing," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We knew they were going to come out with a lot of urgency. Our start was really important."
Sheary made it 2-0 on a pass from Crosby at 4:51, and Kuhnhackl scored his second of the season to put the Penguins up 3-0 at 7:34.
Cullen scored his seventh goal at 5:48 of the third period to make it 4-1, and Hagelin scored into an empty net with 33 seconds remaining to make it 5-1 after Murray shot the puck into the Panthers zone.

Goal of the game

In the waning seconds of a 4-on-3 power play that soon would become a 5-on-4, Panthers center Aleksander Barkov took a pass from Keith Yandle in stride in the neutral zone and skated around Penguins center Nick Bonino in the right faceoff circle. As he neared the front of the Pittsburgh net, the other two Penguins converged toward Barkov, who slipped a perfect backhand pass to Jagr for a one-timer that made it 3-1 at 6:17 of the second period.

Save of the game

With a 3-1 lead, Pittsburgh opened the third period on the power play but gave up a 2-on-1 opportunity to Florida. Colton Sceviour came in with the puck and shot from the right faceoff circle, and Murray made the save 38 seconds in to keep the two-goal lead.

Highlight of the game

Sheary's goal had a little bit of everything. Crosby first absorbed defenseman Jason Demers' hip check at the blue line and continued with the puck alone toward Luongo. He then fed Sheary to his left, but Sheary shot wide on the redirect. The puck then bounced off the end board and back toward the Florida net. Moving to get back into position, Luongo inadvertently kicked the puck into his net when he moved his right leg. "I was thinking that I was going to get an opportunity to get a stick on it once it got back out front, but then it just hit off his pad and went in," Sheary said. "You don't get those bounces every day, so I'll take it."

Unsung performance of the game

The Panthers had a chance to salvage something out of the first period when they had a 2-on-1 and Jussi Jokinen fed Sceviour to the right of Murray. But instead of one-timing the pass, Sceviour held on to the puck and misfired when he attempted to pass to a teammate in the slot.

They said it

"I thought we did a pretty good job. When you get up three goals that early in the game, as a coach sometimes it's a little concerning. Teams have a tendency to exhale and when you do that you can lose momentum fast. I was very pleased at our guys staying with and playing the game the right way."-- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"We knew that they were going to be motivated. They've played a lot of close games lately, a lot of overtime games. When you get a new coach, everybody is trying to prove themselves. I think we expected a pretty tough game. It was just nice to get that kind of start." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby
"The biggest lesson is we've got to play our game. We can't wait to see what the other team is going to do. We've got to come out and skate. We're as good a team as anybody in this league when we're skating and moving the puck. I thought we totally got away from that tonight." -- Panthers coach Tom Rowe

Need to know

Defenseman Keith Yandle, who played in his 578th consecutive game after being a game-time decision because of a foot injury, had an assist on Jagr's goal. … Crosby has at least one point in 17 of 21 games since returning from a concussion Oct. 25. He extended his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists). … Penguins center Evgeni Malkin had his six-game point streak come to an end. … The Panthers challenged Kuhnhackl's goal, claiming he interfered with Luongo before Wilson's shot went off him, but the ruling on the ice was upheld. … Center Vincent Trocheck played a Panthers-high 24:00.

What's next

Penguins: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, ROOT, NHL.TV)
Panthers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, FS-F, NHL.TV)