Malkin sparks Penguins to comeback and 5-4 victory in shootout
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Evgeni Malkin celebrates his tying goal with 6.6 seconds remaining Tuesday night at Consol Energy Center. Joining him is Kris Letang as the Penguins rallied and eventually defeated Toronto in a shootout, 5-4. -
Marc-Andre Fleury makes a save on Toronto's Phil Kessel in the shootout Tuesday night.
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Down. Yes. Out? Not quite.
The Penguins returned from the All-Star break and pulled off a wild comeback Tuesday night, beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-4, in a shootout after trailing by three goals in the third period.
Evgeni Malkin scored the winner, clanking one off the post to beat goalie Jonas Gustavsson on his stick side, as the only one of six shooters to score in the shootout.
The win pushed the Penguins winning streak to eight games.
Malkin and the Penguins top line came to life late in regulation, and he crashed the net with 6.6 seconds left and knocked in a shot by James Neal with his left shoulder.
"Malkin in the clutch?" joked coach Dan Bylsma. "I think he got it off the shoulder. He was in the right spot going to the cage and got us a huge goal 6-on-5 at the end."
Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 35 saves, but none bigger than those in the shootout. He stopped Mikhail Grabovski, Nazem Kadri, and, finally, Phil Kessel who broke to his left and never got off a good shot.
- Matchup: Penguins at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:38 p.m. today, Air Canada Centre.
- TV, radio: Root Sports, WXDX-FM (105.9).
- Probably goaltenders: Brent Johnson for Penguins. Jonas Gustavsson for Maple Leafs.
- Penguins: Have won past four games on road. ... D Kris Letang entered Tuesday night game against Toronto at Consol Energy Center with no goals in 15 career games against Maple Leafs. ... Have scored first in 11 of their past 12 away victories.
- Maple Leafs: Are 14-8-4 at home, where they have won seven of past 10 games. ... RW Joffrey Lupul is scheduled to appear in his 500th NHL game. ... Have not allowed power-play goal in past nine games at Air Canada Centre.
- Hidden stat: Toronto RW Phil Kessel has scored 19 goals at home, more than any two teammates combined.
"This year, I think it's definitely up there," said Fleury about the comeback. "Before, we might have panicked or not felt as confident. We kept going the same way and got some big goals from Joe Vitale, [Steve] Sullivan and Malkin."
The Penguins had dug themselves a 4-1 hole to climb out of by 6:37 of the third period.
But Sullivan cut the gap to two, scoring off the rush at 8:33 and the Penguins converted again at 15:01 when Vitale poked in a rebound, catching Gustavsson down on the goal line.
"We're a pretty confident group right now," said Vitale. "I think a lot of teams, down, 4-1, in the third, might have shelled up and called it quits."
First Published February 1, 2012 12:00 am
