Crosby gets 2 goals, 2 assists in Penguins’ 7-4 win over Senators

Crosby’s 4 points lead Penguins over Senators

OTTAWA — Sidney Crosby had four points, including two of Pittsburgh’s five goals in the second period, leading the Penguins to a 7-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night and a 3-1 series lead.

Crosby assisted on Evgeni Malkin’s power-play goal 11:50 in, the only score of the first period.

Crosby scored two of Pittsburgh’s three goals in a 2:25 span early in the second. Matt Cooke scored 12 seconds after Crosby’s first goal to make it 3-0, and the Penguins’ 22-year-old captain added his fourth goal of the series at 6:12 to chase Brian Elliott.

Chris Kunitz had a goal and two assists and Maxime Talbot had a goal and an assist as the teams combined for eight goals in the second, one short of the NHL playoff record for goals in a period.

Jordan Staal scored in the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for his third straight win.

Sergei Gonchar had three assists for the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins, who need one more win to claim their second first-round series win over Ottawa in three years.

Matt Cullen had a goal and two assists for Ottawa. Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza each had a goal and an assist, and Chris Neil scored his second.

Elliott stopped 15 of 19 shots. Pascal Leclaire made 20 saves after coming on in relief in his Senators playoff debut.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

Malkin scored his fourth goal to put the Penguins up 1-0 when he beat Elliott with a shot from the right faceoff circle.

Crosby made it a 2-0 lead 3:47 into the second when he shot past Elliott on a partial breakaway. The details of Crosby’s goal were still being announced to the crowd of 20,014 when Talbot set up Cooke for his first goal at 3:59.

Leclaire drew cheers when he came on to replace Elliott after Crosby beat the Ottawa starter for the second time in 2:25 with a shot from the right side.

Neil made it four goals overall in 3:23 when he slipped a backhand under Fleury’s outstretched right arm. Alfredsson drew Ottawa within 4-2 with his first of the playoffs at 10:59.

The Senators captain was winding up for a point shot on the power play moments later when play was stopped when a check by Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik dislodged a pane of glass in the right corner.

Talbot made it 5-2 with a short-handed effort at 12:38 on the same power play. Talbot outhustled Cullen and reached out with his stick to tap home Craig Adams’ pass from the left side.

The Senators drew within 5-3 on the ensuing 5-on-3 when Spezza sent a cross-crease pass to Cullen, who fired a shot past Fleury at 13:19.

Crosby got his fourth point of the game, his 11th in four games, with an assist on Kunitz’s first goal at 18:11 which made it 6-3.

NOTES: Two teams have scored a combined total of nine goals in a period twice in NHL playoff history, most recently Los Angeles (5) and Calgary (4) in the second period of the Kings’ 12-4 win at the Forum on April 10, 1990. … Penguins G Brent Johnson was back in uniform as Fleury’s backup after missing two games because of illness. … RW Jonathan Cheechoo made his Ottawa playoff debut, replacing Ryan Shannon in the lineup. Cheechoo, a former 56-goal scorer with San Jose, finished the regular season with Binghamton of the AHL.