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Pens edge Bruins for ninth win in 10 games

Feb 5, 2012 - 12:06 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins edged the Boston Bruins, 2-1, at TD Garden.

Evgeni Malkin and Matt Cooke tallied goals for the Penguins, winners in nine of their last 10 games.

Joe Corvo lit the lamp and Tim Thomas stopped 26-of-28 shots for Boston, which lost for the third time in four tries.

"You got to start building on the positive and I thought tonight our effort was better and our focus was better," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. "There was a couple of areas, again, that we need to continue to improve on but if our guys go out tomorrow night and give that same effort we're going to turn this around."

Boston's Rich Peverley was whistled for a slashing penalty with 44 seconds left in the first period and the Penguins, who were held to just three shots up until that point, capitalized.

After Pittsburgh won a neutral zone faceoff, James Neal took a slap shot from the top of the right circle that was stopped by Thomas, who then kicked aside a rebound attempt by Chris Kunitz, but Malkin found the disc to the left of the net and stuffed it home with 8.1 seconds left in the period.

The Bruins failed to convert on a four-minute power play for a high sticking double minor in a scoreless second period, and the Penguins added to their lead 1:53 into the third.

Pittsburgh raced down the ice on a rush and after Pascal Dupuis' backhander from the right of the net was saved, Cooke crashed the net and swatted the bouncing rebound into the twine for a two-goal cushion.

That goal would deem necessary as Corvo floated a wrister from the right point that sailed into the net through a screen at the 6:45 mark. Fleury, though, closed the door from there, stopping eight shots in the period en route to Pittsburgh's fourth straight victory over the Bruins in Boston.

"It was a tight game all the way through," Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said. "They had a goal there to get back to one and every player had to go out there and play good team defense. We got a lot of good efforts and it was a huge win for us."

Game Notes

Boston fell to 17-9-2 at home this season, while Pittsburgh improved to 15-11-2 as the guest...Boston went 0-for-2 on the power play...Pittsburgh was 1-for-3 on the man advantage...Malkin's goal gave him an NHL-leading 60 points on the year. He sits one point ahead of Philadelphia's Claude Giroux.