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Sidney Crosby takes points lead, gives Pittsburgh sixth straight win with hat trick performance

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All of a sudden, the Pittsburgh Penguins are only two points - both overtime or shootout loss related - behind the Atlantic Division leading Philadelphia Flyers (more on them later).

If you can attribute the six game winning streak to two players, it would be Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury, the latter player getting this afternoon’s game off in favor of efficient backup Brent Johnson. Crosby scored a hat trick in today’s game against the Calgary Flames, which moves his 2010-11 goal total to 18 and gives him the league lead in points with 40. (Steve Stamkos is now in second with 38, but he plays tonight against the Florida Panthers and also has two games in hand.)

Pittsburgh 4, Calgary 1

Crosby is currently on one of the best runs of his already impressive six year career. He scored at least a single point in the last 12 games, scoring 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in that amazing span.

Fleury and Crosby aren’t the only stars who are shining in Pittsburgh, though. Kris Letang ranks among the highest scoring defenseman in the league as he added three assists to bring his season total to 22 points (four goals, 18 assists). That’s nearly identical to Evgeni Malkin’s season so far (eight goals, 14 assists).

Johnson also had a nice game in relief of Fleury. He stopped 30 out of 31 shots for his seventh win in 10 games played. He’s only allowed 20 goals in 10 appearances this season.

Meanwhile, the best player on the ice for the Flames was probably Miikka Kiprusoff. He didn’t get to sweep his Pennsylvania opponents this weekend, but he did stop 39 out of 42 shots against the Penguins.

Rene Bourque is another strong performer this season for Calgary, as he scored the lone Flames goal to push his season total to 11.

So the Penguins find themselves only two points behind the Flyers in the Atlantic while the Flames are the second worst team in the West, only in front of the lowly Edmonton Oilers.