With Evgeni Malkin stealing the spotlight over the last six games, Marc-Andre Fleury decided it was time to step up his game en route to a 3-2 shootout win over the St. Louis Blues, Tuesday night.
Fleury made 32 saves, James Neal and Steve Sullivan scored in regulation, and Chris Kunitz scored the game winning goal in the shootout to give the Penguins their seventh straight win heading into the All-Star Break.
After a scoreless first period, James Neal scored his 27th goal of the season on a power play 3:04 into the second. Paul Martin took the puck in the corner and fed Neal who was parked in the slot. The puck was partially stopped by Blues’ goaltender, Brian Elliot, but managed to trickle into the net. The goal was also Neal’s 13th power play tally of the season, tying him with the Flyers’ Scott Hartnell for tops in the NHL.
Steve Sullivan scored nine minutes later to put the Penguins up 2-0, midway through the second period. Defenseman, Deryk Engelland, prevented the puck from exiting the Blues’ zone when he shot it towards the net. The puck took a funny bounce off of Elliot as Sullivan swooped in to knock it into the net out of mid-air.
The Blues found their second wind and it came in the form of Patrik Berglund. The 23 year old Swede took advantage of a Dustin Jeffrey turnover and beat Marc-Andre Fleury to pull the Blues within one. Chris Stewart took the puck away from Jeffrey, skated wide and dished to Berglund who was skating down the middle of the ice untouched. Berglund took the pass eight feet from the net, made a few slick moves, and beat Fleury stick side to cut Pittsburgh’s lead in half before the end of the second.
In the third period, Berglund was hooked by Kris Letang while on a shorthanded breakaway. The referees awarded a penalty shot and, once again, Berglund beat Fleury on the stick side on nearly the same move as his first goal of the game.
From there Fleury was solid.
The first overall pick of the 2003 draft was especially stellar in killing off a Matt Cooke penalty late in the game. Cooke was called for boarding Barrett Jackman after a shoulder check, and Fleury stood tall, especially in overtime, to prevent the Blues from capitalizing on the chance.
David Perron took the puck out of the corner and fed David Backes who was standing on the opposite side of the cage in front of Fleury. The perfectly placed pass was deflected on goal but Fleury’s left pad stoned Backes. Fleury made another amazing save minutes later. Vladimir Sobotka redirected a pass on net but Fleury was there again to bail out his team. The Penguins had a last second chance from Letang but the period ended and the teams went to a shootout.
From there, Evgeni Malkin and TJ Oshie scored for their respective teams and, in the bottom of the 4th, Chris Kunitz beat Elliot to give the Penguins their third shootout victory in the last five games and seventh straight victory overall.
- The Penguins go into the break with 60 points in 49 games which is good enough for fifth in the Eastern Conference.
- The Pens won without a point from Malkin for the first time since December 1st in a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.
- James Neal’s 27 goals ties his career high from 2009.
Photo courtesy of sports.sbs.yahoo.com
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