Penguins 2 - 1 Flames
Final
  for this game

Pens edge offense-challenged Flames

Jan 12, 2014 - 6:39 AM Calgary, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

Chris Kunitz and Matt Niskanen scored for the Penguins, who went 2-0-1 in a Western Canada road swing.

"It was nice to have a nice, low-scoring game," said Fleury. "The last few games were a little crazy. We have a lot of guys who can score goals, but if we want to be successful we have to do well defensively."

Calgary, meanwhile, is in the midst of a scoring slump that has seen the team score just six goals in its last eight games, losing seven of those contests.

Mikael Backlund scored the lone goal of the game for the Flames, who got 24 saves from Reto Berra.

"I wasn't as good as the guy on the other side tonight," said Berra. "You know, the guys in front made some blocks and I was able to make some saves, but not enough."

The Penguins went on top at 16:34 of the first period as Kunitz's heavy wrist shot from a sharp angle at the right side of the net found a hole for his 24th of the season.

At 6:42 of the second, the Penguins took a 2-0 lead as Niskanen drifted over from the right point and threw a shot on net that made it through traffic.

Calgary was awarded a five-minute major when Robert Bortuzzo was handed a major for checking from behind, but Michael Cammalleri took a cross checking call just over two minutes into the advantage.

The Flames, though, finally managed to break through as Backlund flew down the left wing and left fly with a wrister that beat Fleury to the glove side at 11:29.

That goal broke a home scoreless streak of 174 minutes, 59 seconds, but that was all the Flames were able to manage as the team was unable to net the equalizer before time expired.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh has off until Wednesday when it will host Washington ... Calgary heads to Carolina for a game on Monday ... Pittsburgh has won seven straight against Calgary, last losing a game on Dec. 3, 2005.






Related News