The Pittsburgh Penguins won game two of their three-game Western Canada road trip last night when they beat the Calgary Flames 5-3.
The Penguins killed off all three of Calgary’s power play chances, and scored on two of their own five attempts with the man advantage.
Marc-Andre Fleury had a largely average night in net, as he didn’t see very much action until the third period. The Flames took four shots in the first period, five in the second and 11 in the third. Fleury allowed three goals on those 20 shots, two of which came in the third.
The Penguins peppered Flames goalie Miika Kiprusoff with 36 shots last night. Kiprusoff saved 32 of them and eight of 10 with Pittsburgh on the power play.
Calgary had the 1-0 lead after the first period, but the Penguins would score four unanswered in the middle frame, with goals from Tyler Kennedy, Matt Niskanen, Craig Adams and Evgeni Malkin. Niskanen and Malkin recorded power play markers.
Calgary scored twice in the final 11 minutes of the game to come within one goal of the Penguins, but Jordan Staal would add an empty net tally with five seconds left to seal the win.
The Penguins received two-point games from Niskanen and Staal, in addition to Kris Letang, who had two assists on the night.
Niskanen had a team-high six shots on goal, while Staal was second on the team with five.
Letang played a team-high 25:02, while Arron Asham saw just 7:56 of ice time.
Evgeni Malkin was lucky not to be kicked out of the game in the second period. His stick was slashed out of his hand by Calgary’s Curtis Glencross, who was called for the slash. As Malkin skated back to recover his stick, Glencross smacked it away in a very unsportsmanlike act of frustration. Malkin gave Glencross a two-handed shove, and when Glencross retaliated with a slash to Geno’s foot, Malkin gave him a straight right to the side of the face.
Glencross dropped his gloves and Malkin dropped one, but the referees were already trying to break the fight up. Malkin had his jersey pulled over his head, which calls for an immediate game misconduct, but the referees let him stay.
You can watch the scrap here.
Good to see Geno sticking up for himself.
The Penguins take on the Edmonton Oilers at 9 PM tonight. The game will be televised on Root Sports as the Pens look to end their season-opening Western Canada road trip undefeated.
The 2011 NHL Draft’s no. 1 overall selection Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be making his NHL debut.
Watch for my pre-game preview later on today.
