The Pittsburgh Penguins won on home ice again, making it 11 straight victories for them at the Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins jumped out to a 4-0 lead - one of those goals was a beauty backhander off the stick of star Sidney Crosby - over the visiting New York Rangers and then cruised to a 5-2 victory to continue their run of domination on home ice and in the Metropolitan Division.
The Penguins have reached 30 wins and are a whopping 15 points up on the second-place Washington Capitals in that division. Oh, but the Capitals have two games in hand. So, there’s that.
“We obviously got a big start there. That set the tone for the rest of the game,” Crosby told NHL.com.
"[Marc-Andre Fleury] was good. There were a lot of shots, but he found a way to keep the puck out of the net for the most part and we capitalized on the chances we got.”
And Chris Kunitz continued his run of strong play, which could land him on the Canada’s Olympic team roster, which will be announced on Jan. 7.
Kunitz, who has developed impeccable chemistry with Crosby, a lock for Canada’s team in Sochi, scored twice and added an assist. He has 23 goals on the season.
He helped set up Crosby on his goal, and Crosby set up Kunitz twice. It’s a small sample size, but furthers the point of why Hockey Canada’s Olympic management team might consider bringing Kunitz to Russia in February to play alongside Crosby.