Crosby's hat trick, Anderson's goaltending lead Pens and Avs to 10 win plateau

It comes as no surprise that the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins reached the 10-win plateau first this season. The fact the Colorado Avalanche joined them mere hours later is another story.

Sidney Crosby(notes) had his third career hat trick and the Penguins snapping the Montreal Canadiens' four-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory Wednesday night.

"I felt good. I felt like I was getting chances, but I try to not to think about (hat tricks) too much," Crosby said. "You don't want to jinx it or think about it."

A couple of hours later, Colorado also reached 10 wins, beating Calgary 3-2 despite trailing by two goals early in the game.

With superstars Crosby and Evgeni Malkin(notes) supported by a rock-solid supporting cast, the Penguins were widely expected to be among the NHL's elite this season.

But the Avalanche, playing their first season since the retirement of longtime captain and leading scorer Joe Sakic(notes), have been just as impressive. And they have done it with journeyman goaltender Craig Anderson(notes) and a young cast of relative unknowns led by Paul Stastny(notes).

Colorado has fallen behind 2-0 three times this season and has come to win the game each time.

"There's a good feeling going on, the guys are pulling for each other, they're working hard," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "The guys really believe they can win right now, doesn't matter if the situation is we're down 1-0 or 2-0, we have that feeling that we can come back at any time."

Elsewhere in the NHL it was: Ottawa 4 Florida 3; Dallas 4 Toronto 3 (OT); New York Islanders 3 New York Rangers 1; St. Louis 5 Carolina 2; Buffalo 4 New Jersey 1; Phoenix 4 Columbus 1; Nashville 4 Minnesota 3; and San Jose 2 Los Angeles 1 (SO).

At Pittsburgh, Crosby, tied for fourth in the NHL with nine goals, had his third multiple-goal game in 12 starts this season for Pittsburgh (10-2-0).

"When you get three goals in a game, that kind of changes the look of your (season) numbers early on," said Crosby, who has 36 goals in his past 55 games (including the playoffs). "I'm trying to shoot the puck when I get chances and trying to not pass up good shots, but it's just been a matter of the puck going in early on."

Chris Kunitz(notes) also scored and assisted on all three of Crosby's goals. Mike Rupp and Alex Goligoski(notes) added goals, and Bill Guerin(notes) had three assists.

Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) made 23 saves, allowing only Tomas Plekanec's(notes) power-play goal.

With the victory, the defending Stanley Cup champions rebounded from a loss to New Jersey on Saturday night that halted their seven-game winning streak.

Montreal's Jaroslav Halak(notes) stopped 19 of 23 shots before he was pulled after the second period.

Crosby extended his point streak to five games, completing a hat trick during the first 36 minutes, giving him nine goals in October for the first time in his career. Last season, Crosby's ninth goal came a full month later on Nov. 28.

Crosby has averaged roughly twice as many assists as goals over the course of his career but is on a pace for 62 this season.

"He can score," said linemate Guerin, who has 411 career goals. "He usually has a pass-first mentality, but with the positions that he put himself in during the game, he can score a lot of goals."

Crosby's third hat trick came three years to the day after his first, and all three of his goals Wednesday came at even strength. He scored 8:33 into the contest when he one-timed a slap shot off a pass from Guerin between the glove and left pad of Halak, who was diving to his left.

"We made mistakes," said Montreal defenceman Hal Gill(notes), who won the Cup with the Penguins in June. "We had some turnovers and (Crosby) feeds off that. He waits for it and that's when he capitalizes."

At Calgary, Wojtek Wolski(notes) scored his third goal in two nights, and team-leading eighth of the season, to give Colorado the win.

After a season in which he scored 14 goals in 78 games, Wolski is currently in the league's top 10 in goals.

"A lot of hard work this summer," said Wolski, when asked to explain his breakout season. "With the season we had last year, I was so disappointed. Hitting rock bottom there, you tend to step back a little bit and assess how the season went and what you have to do to get ready for the next season."

David Koci(notes) and David Jones(notes) also scored for Colorado (10-1-2), which has picked up points in each of its last 10 games (8-0-2).

Jarome Iginla(notes) and Olli Jokinen(notes) replied for Calgary (7-3-1), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped.

"We weren't as sharp as we should have been after that first minute, we realize that," said Iginla. "They also played a good road game. They didn't do a lot of flashy things, they didn't get a ton of shots, but they were opportunistic and on a back-to-back night, they did what they had to do."

Anderson made 30 saves to improve to 10-1-2. The 10 victories for Anderson establishes a franchise record for most wins in a month.

Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff(notes) made 11 saves in falling to 7-2-1.

Senators 4 Panthers 3

At Sunrise, Fla., Nick Foligno(notes) and Jarkko Ruutu(notes) scored in a 38-second span late in the second period to lead Ottawa over Florida.

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Stars 4 Maple Leafs 3 (OT)

At Dallas, James Neal(notes) beat Toronto rookie goaltender Jonas Gustavsson(notes) off a rebound in overtime and the Stars beat the Maple Leafs.

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Islanders 3 Rangers 1

At Uniondale, N.Y., Islanders captain Doug Weight(notes), in his first game back following a bout with swine flu, earned an assist on Kyle Okposo's(notes) tiebreaking, power-play goal late in the second period.

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Blues 5 Hurricanes 2

At Raleigh, N.C., David Perron(notes) had two goals, Yan Stastny(notes) and Jay McClement(notes) scored 16 seconds apart, and Chris Mason(notes) made 34 saves for St. Louis.

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Sabres 4 Devils 1

At Newark, N.J., Clarke MacArthur(notes) and Tim Kennedy(notes) scored early in the first period, and Ryan Miller(notes) made 31 saves to help Buffalo improve to 4-0 on the road.

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Coyotes 4 Blue Jackets 1

At Columbus, Ohio, Martin Hanzal(notes), Zbynek Michalek(notes) and Robert Lang(notes) scored power-play goals, and Jason LaBarbera(notes) made 31 saves for Phoenix.

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Predators 4 Wild 3

At St. Paul, Minn., Jerred Smithson(notes) scored a short-handed goal midway through the third period to give Nashville its second regulation victory of the season.

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Sharks 2 Kings 1 (SO)

At San Jose, Calif., Ryane Clowe(notes) scored in the sixth round of a shootout, and Evgeni Nabokov(notes) stopped Jarret Stoll(notes) moments later to give the Sharks the victory.