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Kostitsyn's Hat Trick Boosts Habs

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 28, 2008

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins thought they gave a winning effort Saturday night. Andrei Kostitsyn and Carey Price handed them a loss anyway.

Kostitsyn had his first career hat trick and Price stopped 32 shots, leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 3-2 victory.

"I liked our effort tonight and thought we deserved better," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "There are going to be nights when the result is not on your side. Tonight was one of those nights. Carey Price was outstanding and stole the game."
Tomas Plekanec added two assists for Montreal, 3-0-1 in its past four games.
Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who have scored only three goals in the past three games.

Pittsburgh held a 34-19 advantage in shots on goal and had five power plays to the Canadiens' one. Kostitsyn scored the winner 2:21 into the third, a period in which the Penguins had three power plays and 17 shots. But they could not beat Price.

"When you have an offense like the Penguins have, and especially in the third period when we gave them three power plays, it's never easy," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "I think Carey's always been known as a guy who can finish. I think tonight he was ready."

Earlier in the day, Kostitsyn was questionable. He missed the previous two games with a minor leg injury and said during the morning skate that his availability would be a game-time decision.

But Kostitsyn came out strong, scoring twice in the first period.

"I just went to the net and Plekanec made me two good passes and I scored," he said.

Kostitsyn, who entered the game with six goals this season and didn't have one since Dec. 4, scored 1:15 in on a pass from Plekanec after Josh Gorges' shot went wide but bounced hard off the boards.

Kostitsyn's second goal came with only 1.6 seconds to play in the first, giving the Canadiens a 2-1 lead after Dupuis had tied it four minutes earlier. Kostitsyn scored on a one-timer from the slot following Plekanec's pass from behind the net.

"We want Kostitsyn to shoot," Carbonneau said. "I think he has the best shot on our club. He should be ready to shoot from everywhere, and tonight that's all he did. He got good shots right on the net and turned them into goals."

His third goal came off a turnover at center ice. Kostitsyn skated across the blue line and ripped a slap shot between the legs of Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

"I know we lost, but we had a pretty good effort," Crosby said. "We didn't give them much. We had a couple mistakes on the first two goals and the third goal was a pretty good shot. ... We had a lot of chances to tie it up and even take the lead. Our effort was there."

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