ST. LOUIS -- When Penguins captain Sidney Crosby emerged from the Jobing.com Arena visitors locker room Thursday morning in Phoenix, he turned the wrong way and had to be redirected to the exit.

Those things can happen when you're on an eight-day, four-city, cross-country road trip, especially if you're in places you visit infrequently.

And the Penguins weren't just in a different town and arena every night. They were also playing or practicing with different faces almost daily, thanks to injuries and lineup changes.

"This road trip was definitely a battle," said Penguins forward Max Talbot, just one of those in and out of the lineup during the time the team went to New York to play the Rangers, San Jose to play the Sharks, Phoenix to play the Coyotes and St. Louis to play the Blues.

Only a cathartic 6-3 win against the Blues Saturday made coming home a cheerful occasion rather than a chore. The Penguins are off until Thursday, when they play Edmonton at Mellon Arena.

"There's no doubt that for us finishing the road trip with a big win is going to be good for our confidence, because our confidence has been hurt lately," coach Michel Therrien said.

The journey started off well enough, if briefly, with a 2-0 lead going into the third period Oct. 25 against the Rangers. But the Penguins blew that lead and lost in a shootout, 3-2.

That ended a three-game winning streak and started a tailspin. Their offense, considered the team's strength along with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, went south as they were heading west.

Shots, scoring chances and goals became figments of their imagination as their puck possession and transition game dipped, and they lost, 2-1, in San Jose and 4-1 to Phoenix.

Lines were torn apart, beginning with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin being separated to center their own lines again.

Injuries roiled the lineup. Defenseman Hal Gill missed the first three games of the trip because of a hand injury. Talbot missed a game because of an undisclosed injury. Winger Pascal Dupuis missed the past two games after getting hit with a shot in practice and is on injured reserve. He could come off IR for Thursday's game.

Those were on top of long-term injuries to defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, who had surgery. In addition, winger Petr Sykora missed the first three games of the season because of a groin injury.

"It's really tough," Therrien said. "You go through those stretches in the season when you have to face injuries, and right now we're going through that. We've been missing a lot of players. But it's no excuse."

The potentially biggest blow came when Crosby left the Phoenix game because of a hip injury, but he returned against the Blues and had two assists playing on a line with Talbot, who scored the cushion goal to make it 5-3, and Miroslav Satan, who had a goal and two assists.

There were other changes. Forwards Chris Minard, who played two games, and Janne Pesonen, who played Saturday, were recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

On defense, Darryl Sydor was in and out of the lineup. He played Saturday as Mark Eaton was a healthy scratch.

Crosby said surviving several long-term injuries last season, including his high ankle sprain, and still advancing to the Stanley Cup final gave the Penguins the experience to get through this stretch.

"I think we have that confidence," he said. "A perfect example is last year what we went through. I think we all have the attitude that if we can go through that, we can go through almost anything now.

"Hopefully, we won't have to, but certainly we know that we can depend on any guys who come in to fill the job. And for the guys who are already in here, they have to step up as well."

With only Dupuis' status in question, and with Minard and Pesonen sent back to the Baby Penguins yesterday, things could settle down.

After a nine-day trip to Sweden, where they opened the season by splitting two games with Ottawa as part of NHL Premiere, and this trip, the Penguins have just one more long trek -- but not for a while.

In late February, they leave for 10 days to play at Chicago, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Florida and Washington.

For now, they can forget about long road trips, including the one that just ended.

"I don't think we're satisfied with three points out of eight, but I think it's a good way to end the trip, with a big win," Talbot said.

First Published: November 3, 2008, 10:00 a.m.