Penguins Defeat Strong Stars Squad in Impressive Win

Sidney Crosby scored a hat trick as the Penguins ended the Stars' seven-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory in Dallas on Saturday night.

Crosby extended his point streak to 12 games, the longest active point streak in the NHL; tied for the fourth-longest streak of his career; and tied for the longest by a player age 37 or older. He has 11 goals and 19 points over that span. Bryan Rust scored his 200th career goal, and Blake Lizotte got the game-winner.

“I don't think we were intimidated by them or their lineup,” Rust said. “They’re obviously a really good team with a lot of really, really good players, and I think all night we played up, in their face, we were skating, we were moving, we're playing really hard. I think when we do that, we can be a really, really good team ourselves.”

The Penguins found themselves down 2-1 heading into the third period as former Pittsburgh netminder Casey DeSmith battled to keep his old teammates off the board. But the Penguins kept putting shots on net, building a big advantage in that regard, and broke through with four goals in the final frame.

With the game tied at 3-3 with 1:43 remaining, two Dallas players collided, leading to a 2-on-1 opportunity for Pittsburgh. Danton Heinen delivered the puck to Lizotte, who scored his 11th goal of the season, giving the Penguins a late 4-3 lead.

“We were down in the game, most of the game, but I thought we were playing extremely well,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “We just try to encourage them to stay with it. Just keep competing, keep playing the game the right way, we’ll climb back into it.”

Crosby responded seconds later with an empty-netter for his 30th goal of the season to secure his hat trick.

“Those are fun,” Crosby said. “They don’t come along often, they’re definitely fun to get.”

Though, as Rust admitted, the captain probably should have had one sooner.

“There's a couple times earlier this year where he had two and I kept trying to get him the puck, and I couldn't get him over there for that hat trick [laughs]. So, it was definitely good to see get it,” Rust said.

The Penguins got on the board first just four minutes into the opening frame with a power-play goal against the NHL’s top-ranked penalty kill. Evgeni Malkin, in his first game back after missing four due to injury, found Crosby, who sniped his first goal of the game.

“I thought Geno looked good, he brings a dimension to our team, our team just looks different when he's in the lineup,” Sullivan said. “I think it poses more of a challenge for our opponents from a matchup standpoint.”

Dallas was able to knot things up at 1 about midway through the first period with a breakaway goal from Evgenii Dadonov. He scored his second of the night in the second period to put the Stars in front, 2-1.

Twenty seconds into the final frame, rookie forward Rutger McGroarty delivered a pretty pass to Crosby, who nailed in his second goal of the game, tying the game at 2-2. It was McGroarty’s second career helper after notching his first career point on an assist to Rust on Thursday at St. Louis.

“He's been great,” Rust said of his linemate. “Tends to be in all the right places... he made some really nice plays out there tonight, and I think the more he stays in this league and plays his game, he's just going to keep getting better and better.”

However, Dallas quickly responded, as Dadonov struck once again for his second career hat trick – with the first also coming against Pittsburgh. But with 11:11 remaining, Rust found his 200th career goal and 28th of the season, tying a career high and making him the ninth player in Penguins history to reach that number with the team.

“Means I'm getting old, first of all,” Rust said about scoring his 200th career goal. “Second of all, I'm really proud. I didn't think I'd ever get to say I scored 200 goals in the NHL. The first time I came into this league, I was like, I hope I can just stick around for a couple years. Now, here I am, 200 goals later. I think back, and I’m obviously really blessed, and there’s obviously more to do.”

The Penguins will look to hold onto this momentum as they have a quick turnaround, heading to Chicago to face off against the Blackhawks on Sunday at 6 PM to complete their three-game road trip.