The Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 Friday, extending their winning streak to seven and retaining their early-season lead in the NHL. Playing his 300th career game, Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby had a power-play goal and a short-handed score – his first in the NHL – in regulation, then beat Tomas Vokoun with a nifty deke in the shootout to help the Penguins improve to an NHL-best 9-1-0. Steven Reinprecht scored twice in the first period for Florida. The Panthers have lost six of seven to drop to 2-5-1. Avalanche 5, Hurricanes 4: In Denver, after watching injured teammate Darcy Tucker leave the ice on a backboard, Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski scored in quick succession to lift Colorado over Carolina. Tucker was checked into the boards by Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu as he tried to play the puck in the second period. Tucker's face hit the glass hard and he fell to the ice on his back unconscious. He lay motionless for several minutes as doctors attended. The team said Tucker was alert and taken to the hospital for treatment and evaluation. Ruutu was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct, and Hejduk scored on the subsequent power play. Forty seconds later, Wolski scored his fifth goal of the season. Blues 3, Wild 1: In St. Louis, David Perron had a goal and an assist for his first points of the season after getting shifted to the checking line, helping St. Louis beat Minnesota. Jay McClement also scored, and Chris Mason made 20 saves for St. Louis. Chuck Kobasew scored for Minnesota. The Wild have lost seven straight on the road, four shy of the franchise worst.
