Evgeni Malkin nets hat trick for Pittsburgh Penguins

PITTSBURGH - The Carolina Hurricanes talked and talked before the Eastern Conference finals about the importance of slowing down Sidney Crosby. Maybe they forget about the Pittsburgh Penguins' other star, Evgeni Malkin.

Malkin put Pittsburgh ahead for good by scoring twice in the third period of his first 3-goal playoff performance, and the Penguins beat the Hurricanes 7-4 Thursday night to open a two-game lead in the series.

Crosby scored a record-tying sixth goal to start a playoff game, yet was upstaged by NHL regular-season scoring leader Malkin during an exceptional effort that also gave Malkin the playoff scoring lead 25-24 over Crosby. Malkin has 4 of Pittsburgh's 10 goals in the series.

"It was a great game for me," Malkin said.

Carolina had won five straight Game 2s, including the first two rounds this spring after losing Game 1 each time, but couldn't match Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux era-like run-and-gun offense despite rallying to tie three times. The Hurricanes will host Game 3 on Saturday night.

Malkin, seemingly motivated by Carolina's attempts to be more physical with him than usual during the second period, ended a succession of strong shifts by scoring to make it 5-4 with 8:50 gone in the third period.

"He played a determined game," teammate Bill Guerin said of Malkin. "He's got that size and skill."

Malkin, relying on his speed and offensive creativity to set up scoring chances on almost every shift in the final period, made it 6-4 less than four minutes later with a one-man goal. He picked up the puck in the corner, carried it behind the net and used a spin move to put a backhander past goalie Cam Ward from a bad angle for his 10th of the playoffs.

"It was a great shot," Carolina defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. "I don't know who saves that. He's a great player and great players, eventually they break out. Today was his day it seemed like."