Geno Goes Coyote Hunting; Pens Win

Following a 12-game winning streak with two straight losses that coincidentally occurred when he returned to action following a 4-game absence due to a knee injury, Pittsburgh Penguins' forward Evgeni Malkin joked before yesterday's game against the Phoenix Coyotes at the CONSOL Energy Center that the team couldn't win with him in the linup.

And this even though Geno was the only Penguin goal-scorer with 3 tallies in those two consecutive losses. 

As it turned out, that was just an encore, though.  Last night, Malkin served up the main course, scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists for a 5-point night in the Penguins' 6-1 romp over a beleaguered Phoenix Coyotes squad that had to feel hunted from the drop of the puck.

"It's really fun to see him take over a game like that," said Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby said of Geno in the locker-room afterwards.

It started in the first period when Geno assisted on a power play goal by defenseman Kris Letang, who unleashed a 50-foot bullet that beat Coyotes' netminder Jason Labarbara glove hand for a 1-0 Pens lead.

Then, in the waning seconds of the first period, Crosby faced off for a draw on a 4-on-4 against Coyotes' faceoff ace Vernon Fiddler.  When Fiddler was tossed out of the circle, forward Lauri Korpikoski came in to take it.

Well, that was a clear mismatch for one of the better face-off guys in the game, and Crosby proved that by easily winning the draw against Korpikoski and going forward with the puck, slipping it behind him before sneaking around him to grab it. 

That caught Phoenix blueliner Adrian Aucoin in no-man's land, not knowing whether to go to Crosby or cover the near winger --- Malkin --- and the Pens' Captain made Aucoin pay too, slipping a pass to Malkin in the slot and watching him easily beat Labarbara far side for a 2-0 lead.

The Penguins' power play then urned things up in the 2nd period, as the Geno and Crosby show continued.

Malkin got a man-advantage goal less than a minute into the frame, taking a puck from Crosby on a quick pass from the side boards before beating Labarbara for a 3-0 lead, then Crsoby followed-suit, hitting on almost the exact same play about 2 minutes later -- taking a pass from Malkin off the boards before top-shelfing one past Labarara for a 4-0 advantage.

At that point, Pittsburgh was 3-for-3 on the power play.  They finished 3-for-5 on the game.

Matt Cooke then upped the Pens' lead to 5-0 before the game was half old and with Malkin adding an assist on that play -- tying a career-high with his 5th point in only about 28 minutes of work -- Phoenix coach Dave Tippett saved Labarbara from any further beating by pulling him from the cage. 

Good thing, too, because the Penguins were headed fast towards double digits at that time, and they have rung up as many as 8 on Labarbara before when he played for the New York Rangers. 

Plus, with Malkin playing the way he was playing, an assault on Toronto Maple Leafs' Darryl Sittler's record of 10 points in a game wasn't out of the question either.

"I was just trying to keep up with him," said Crosby.

But Malkin's scoring run ground to somewhat of halt when the Penguins had to do some extended work killing off a 5-on-3 disadvantage for about 2 minutes and 45 seconds late in the second period, thanks to 3 consecutive penalties on Mike Rupp, Cooke and Defenseman Brooks Orpik.  Fortuantely, the Pens' PK stepped up big and slammed the door on the Phoenix power play, not allowing a goal at any point during that stretch.

In fact, the Coyotes came up empty on 8 chances with the extra man in the game, and that was the first time in 8 games that the Pens' penalty killing unit didn't allow a power-play goal against.  After a long period of sustained excellence, they had allowed one in the previous 7 contests.

In the third period, Coyotes' forward Wojtek Wolski deflected one past Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury -- on a play where the puck actually went off Wolski, then the mask of Fleury, then in -- to ruin #29's shutout bid, but Chris Conner added a late goal against Phoenix backup goaltender Matt Climie to wipe that away, and that wrapped up the scoring in a 6-1 final.

Crosby, whose scoring streak extended his career-high run to 21 straight games when he assisted on Geno's first goal, had 3 total points on the night.  He's now 10 up on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.

With the win last night, and the hot Philadelphia Flyers laying a surprising 5-0 goose egg on home ice against the Pens' next opponent Wednesday night -- the Florida Panthers -- the Pens moved to within 3 points of Philadelphia for the Atlantic Division and NHL points lead.

Unlike the Washington Capitals, who weren't able to keep a defeat or two from morphing into an 8-game losing streak before they finally stopped that run Sunday night against a woeful Ottawa Senators team, Pittsburgh did last night what great teams do:  they stopped a mini-rut from developing into something bigger.  After two straight defeats -- and 4 days of rest -- they came out strong, clearly looking to get back on their game and back in the win column.

"I liked the way our team was focused and ready to go," said head coach Dan Bylsma.

Not coincidentally, Pittsburgh outshot the Coyotes 38-27 last night.  In their prior 2 games against Philadelphia and the Rangers, the Pens were surprisingly outshot by a good margin in each.  That's not how they play and, obviously, not how they win hockey games.

Anyway, it was good to see them get back in the "W" column.  Let's hope the Pens can bag one more Wednesday and get another roll going efore the big Thursday night showdown against the Capitals in Washington in front of the HBO cameras.  Pittsburgh can't look by the Panthers, though, because as Tomas Vokoun showed in slamming the door on the Flyers' last night, they can win on the strength of his play in the net alone.

More soon.


NOTES:   Blysma announced before the game that forward Mike Comrie, who has been out the last 3 weeks or so, may need surgery on his hip to correct a condition that has been plaguing him since he injured it in the season's second game.  Bylsma said Comrie tried to play through it for about a month -- obviously very poorly -- and then the team elected to try rest and rehabilitation to see if it would improve, with no success.  An official decision hasn't been made yet, but if Comrie undergoes surgery, his time off will likely be measured in months, not weeks.  Not that it will make any real difference in the club's fortunes ....