DETROIT, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Sergei Fedorov scored three goals in just over seven minutes during the second period Friday night to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Fedorov completed his natural hat trick on a classic give-and-go with Brendan Shanahan 9:42 into the second. After dropping the puck for Shanahan in the right faceoff circle, Fedorov skated left and went to the net.
The entire Pittsburgh defense followed Shanahan, who passed to Fedorov at the far goalpost for an easy tally after Jean-Sebastien Aubin followed his teammates in abandoning that side of the rink.
The hat trick was Fedorov's first since Nov. 22, 2000 in a 5-4 loss to the Boston Bruins and the fifth of his career. No Detroit player has had a three-goal game at Joe Louis Arena since then, although Brett Hull had a hat trick on Jan. 26 at St. Louis.
Hull assisted on two of Fedorov's goals for his second multi-point game of the year. He had 19 last season.
After Detroit fell behind, 1-0, in the first period, Luc Robitaille scored a pair of goals 53 seconds apart to give the Red Wings the lead for good. Robitaille's last two-goal game was March 9 at St. Louis.
Alexei Kovalev had given Pittsburgh the lead 7:53 into the game with an excellent individual play. He skated around Mathieu Dandenault's check at the blue line, then skated freely through the Detroit zone to the inside of the right faceoff circle where he launched a slap shot past Manny Legace.
Kovalev added a power-play goal with 16 seconds left in the second period for his second consecutive two-goal game. He tallied a pair in a 3-3 tie at Montreal on Tuesday.
The Penguins got as close as 5-3 on Ville Nieminen's goal 4:53 into the third period, but defenseman Jiri Fischer answered 41 seconds later for the Red Wings.
Igor Larianov passed from the top of the right circle to Fischer at the left post. Again, Aubin was nowhere to be seen when the puck came to an open man at the side of his net.
Aubin made 37 saves as the Penguins were outshot, 44-27. Legace got his second win in as many starts this season.
The Red Wings scored seven goals for the first time since an 8-3 rout of Minnesota on Nov. 16 last season.
