VANCOUVER — Sidney Crosby knows there's been plenty of talk about his lack of offensive production through the first month of the NHL season.
He quieted the doubters, at least for a little while, on Wednesday night.
Crosby scored his second goal of the season and first in six games as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2.
The Pittsburgh captain came in with just one goal and four assists and had been held off the scoresheet in nine of his team's first 11 outings.
"That happens sometimes," said Crosby. "There's not always a great explanation, but you've got to find a way to ultimately figure it out and produce. That's really been my focus. Dwelling on what's said is not really going to help the puck go in the net."
With the Penguins up 1-0 through 40 minutes, Crosby scored on a 4-on-3 power play after taking a nice feed from Phil Kessel in front and beating Canucks goalie Ryan Miller on a slick backhand at 7:17 of the third period.
"I think my own expectations are the ones I try to meet and those are probably higher than anyone else's," said Crosby. "I expect a lot of myself and I work hard to try and make sure I'm doing my job and creating things and producing."
David Perron and Eric Fehr had the other goals for Pittsburgh (8-4-0), while Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves. Kessel added two assists as the Penguins won their fifth in a row and improved to 8-1-0 after starting the season with three straight losses.
Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen scored for Vancouver (6-3-4), which got 20 saves from Miller.
"We had a good first part of the second period and our last 10 minutes was good," said Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. "Other than the we sat back too much and played too slow to be able to beat them."
The Penguins made it 3-1 just 2:55 after Crosby's goal on a short-handed rush when Fehr walked around Vancouver defenceman Yannick Weber on a delayed penalty and roofed a shot on Miller for his second of the season.
Just back from injury after signing with Pittsburgh as a free agent in the off-season, Fehr is the first player in NHL history to score short-handed in each of his first two games with a team.
"We've been on the power play before," said Fehr. "You know how tough it is when penalty killers keep coming at you and don't give you a chance to set up. That's what we have done the last couple of games."
Vancouver made it interesting late when Sedin scored his fourth of the season on a deflection at 13:59 before Hansen added his third with 67 seconds left in regulation, but Pittsburgh managed to hold on and keep its winning streak going.
"Other than the last five minutes, I was really happy with our play," said Penguins head coach Mike Johnston. "We didn't give them a lot."
Down 1-0 after the first period thanks to Peron's first of the season, Vancouver had a great chance to even the score a minute on a Hansen breakaway that deflected off Fleury's glove, hit the post and stayed out.
Fleury was at it again later in the same shift, flinging his body in front a Brandon Sutter shot from the slot with Vancouver buzzing in the Pittsburgh zone.
The Penguins then had an opportunity of their own with under eight minutes to go in the period, but Kessel's shot off a feed from Evgeni Malkin rang off the crossbar behind Miller, with the puck somehow making it all the way into the Penguins' bench off the carom.
"I thought we really carried the play until those last five minutes and then they got that one and really got a lot of momentum," said Crosby. "We've been in that position a few times this year and found a way to hold on, which is what you need to do, but we probably need to do a better job of controlling the play a little bit when we have leads like that."
Notes: The Canucks, who are 4-0-1 away from home, open a season-long seven-game road trip on Saturday in Buffalo against the Sabres. ... The Penguins visit the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.
