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Malkin's shootout goal saves Penguins

Feb 2, 2007 - 6:33 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Marc-Andre Fleury and rookie Evgeni Malkin turned an embarrassing end of regulation into an exciting celebration.

Fleury stopped 44 shots and Malkin scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a furious comeback for their fifth straight victory, a 5-4 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens.

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar netted two goals and All-Star Sidney Crosby added three assists for the Penguins, who also won five in a row from October 19-November 11.

"Right now, I think we are just trying to play with a lot of urgency and energy," Crosby said. "Consistency is so big when you're a young team. It's tough to be consistent night in and night out, especially when each game is so big. But I think we really tried to focus on that, take it one game at a time and battle through it, and we have had some success."

Pittsburgh almost gave away this game as Montreal overcame three two-goal deficits and a seven-minute power play for the Penguins to get the contest into overtime.

"It was just good to get the win," Fleury said. "It was a big point. We need all those points to make sure we're still in the playoff race."

After a scoreless extra session, Pittsburgh's Erik Christensen and Montreal's Alexei Kovalev each scored in the first round of the shootout. After Crosby and the Canadiens' Chris Higgins were stopped in the second round, Malkin deked and beat goaltender David Aebischer to the glove side for a 2-1 advantage.

Fleury then made a glove save on a drive by Tomas Plekanec as Pittsburgh improved to 3-5 in shootouts this season. Montreal fell to 4-5.

"I knew there were some good shooters out there in the shootout," said Fleury, whose team beat Dallas - the league's top shootout club - on Friday. "I am just glad I was able to make the saves."

"(Fleury) has been so good for us and the difference in so many games when he's came up big, and he did it again tonight," Crosby said.

In a fast-paced overtime, Fleury made two outstanding saves, one on a point-blank shot by Plekanec with 3:40 left and another on a wicked wrister by Michael Ryder with 18 seconds remaining. Pittsburgh almost won it when rookie Jordan Staal's shorthanded slap shot from the slot rang off the crossbar 11 seconds earlier.

Montreal scored two shorthanded goals, the second by Mike Johnson with 5:31 left in the third to cut its deficit to 4-3. With 2:29 remaining, defenseman Mathieu Dandenault scored on a slap shot that took a fortunate bounce off the skate of Pittsburgh blue-liner Rob Scuderi and past Fleury.

"We kept fighting, even in the third period after letting up that fourth goal," Johnson said. "We had lots of chances to get even. We just kind of stuck with it, battled down to the end. It was good we stuck with it and got a good result, at least a point.

Radek Bonk scored two goals for the Canadiens, who had won three of their previous four games.

With the Penguins already leading 1-0, Gonchar scored twice in the second period as the Penguins enjoyed a seven-minute power play thanks to Canadiens All-Star defenseman Sheldon Souray, who accumulated 27 penalty minutes - including a game misconduct - for retaliating against Colby Armstrong after the Pittsburgh right wing's hard check on Montreal captain Saku Koivu.

"I have never ever seen it called like that," Souray said. "It seems like (the penalty calls) were a little one-sided. It seems like we are talking about the refs after every game."

"We've been moving the puck around very well (on the power play)," Gonchar said. "You have to give credit to my partners, who gave me the chance to shoot it. We're shooting a little more, and another thing is the traffic in front of the net. That makes it harder to stop the puck. When you have those two things together, you have a better chance to score."

However, Bonk scored a shorthander between Gonchar's two man-advantage tallies and added an even-strength goal with 2:47 left in the second to get Montreal within 3-2.

Christensen's 10th goal of the season 9:09 into the third, a one-timer from the slot that went in off the crossbar after a feed from behind the net by Maxime Talbot.