PENGUINS RALLY TO KEEP ON STREAKING
UNIONDALE, N.Y.— The Pittsburgh Penguins are rolling so well without Evgeni Malkin, the star centre might have trouble cracking the lineup once he is healthy enough to play.
“I think he should be all right,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said Friday night after Pittsburgh beat the New York Islanders 4-2 to extend their winning streak to 11 games. Malkin has missed seven of those victories because of an undisclosed injury, but the Penguins haven’t missed a beat. Tomas Vokoun was sharp in making 33 saves, and Brandon Sutter snapped a tie early in the third period for the Penguins, who overcame a pair of one-goal deficits. Vokoun was the difference-maker early as he allowed only one goal in 502 consecutive starts? No chance — and remember that occurred in an age goalies didn’t wear masks. Likewise, no one will approach Brett Favre’s 297 consecutive NFL starts by a quarterback. Try Byron Nelson’s 11 consecutive PGA Tour wins in 1945, or his total of 18 that year. Both marks will outlive all of us. What about Brodeur’s 120 shut- the first when the Penguins were outshot 14-3 and spent most of the frame in their end. Down 1-0, the Penguins knew they were fortunate to be that close.
“It could’ve been three, four,” said Crosby, who had two assists. “Vokie kind of weathered that storm, and we were able to get back into it.” Brandon Sutter netted the winning goal when took a pass from Matt Cooke in front off a two-on-one rush and scored past goalie Evgeni Nabokov 1:46 into the third period. Joe Vitale and Chris Kunitz had secondperiod goals for Pittsburgh, which hasn’t lost since Feb. 28 at Carolina. Pascal Dupuis added an emptynetter with less than a second left, assisted by Vokoun, to make it 4-2. outs (plus 24 in the playoffs) and counting? Or his record for games and minutes played and wins? How about Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, or his averaging 50.4 points a game in 1961-62? (He also averaged 48.5 minutes that year, playing every game entirely, including overtimes, and never fouled out.) There’s no touching there. Nor will Pete Maravich’s