Crosby drops gloves in Penguins' defeat
PITTSBURGH — The reeling Pittsburgh Penguins lost again — this time, sending captain Sidney Crosby to his boiling point.
Nathan Horton scored twice and the Florida Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday that sent the Penguins to their fourth straight loss.
Down 4-1 late in the second period, Crosby got into the second fight of his career — going after Brett McLean right off the faceoff deep in Florida's end.
Just a few minutes after he was penalized for a scrum with Gregory Campbell, Crosby was given 19 minutes in penalties for fighting, unsportsmanlike conduct and an instigator.
"I asked him to go, and he said yes. And usually, yes means yes," said Crosby, who fought Boston's Andrew Ference last season. "I mean, I wouldn't have wasted 20 minutes in the box for that. I guess he didn't take me serious."
Ville Peltonen, Bryan McCabe, Richard Zednik and Michael Frolik also scored and Keith Ballard, Cory Stillman, Nick Boynton and Stephen Weiss each had two assists for Florida, which pulled within three points of the Penguins for eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Ruslan Fedotenko scored for Pittsburgh, which has lost 10 of 14, five straight at home and was handed its worst home loss in almost two years. Florida goalie Craig Anderson stopped 29 shots.
"It was a huge game... I couldn't have scripted anything better," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said. "It's hopefully what the doctor ordered for us."
