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Fleury, Malkin lead Penguins past struggling Rangers

Oct 24, 2007 - 2:48 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - Evgeni Malkin scored the lone goal and Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins won their third in a row and sent the New York Rangers to their fourth consecutive defeat with a 1-0 triumph Tuesday night.

Fleury, who entered the game 6-0-2 with a 2.31 goals-against average in his past eight games against the Rangers, notched his eighth career shutout.

He faced plenty of shots in his first blanking of the young season, making 12 saves in the first period, 11 in the second and 13 in the third.

"When you don't face a lot of shots, you're by yourself back there," Fleury said. "It's easier to stay focused when you have a lot more shots to face. You know they have a lot of good players. It was a challenge for us, and we got the win."

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins took a 1-0 lead 44 seconds into the second on a power-play goal by Malkin. Reigning Hart Trophy winner Sidney Crosby set up the tally by firing a cross-ice feed to defenseman Ryan Whitney, who sent a pass toward the front of the net.

While standing to the left of Henrik Lundqvist, Malkin was able to get his stick on the pass from Whitney, who was stationed along the opposite boards, sneaking the puck past the goaltender's outstretched left leg.

"It looked like it was going to take forever," Malkin said through an interpreter. "After the puck hit the blade, it went very slow, and I saw the goaltender was not reaching for the puck, so I started celebrating before the puck went into the net."

Seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal was awarded a penalty shot after being knocked down while on a partial breakaway. But Lundqvist easily turned aside Staal's shot, keeping the deficit at 1-0.

Malkin later hit the crossbar on a 2-on-1 rush with about two minutes to play in the second period.

Although the Rangers had a lot of shots, they did not have an abundance of quality scoring chances.

"We were trying to kind of force them to the outside," Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar said. "They did get lot of shots from the boards, and we have to make sure (Fleury) sees those shots. That's what we've been trying to do."

Lundqvist made 21 saves and was aided by a defense that kept the front of the net clear for most of the night.

New York has scored only seven goals during its four-game slide and is winless on the road this season despite possessing a roster of big-name offensive players.

"I have been on a lot of teams that have been through stretches like this," Rangers center Chris Drury said. "I don't think we could have done much better today than to put it in the net. Your heart just goes out to (Lundqvist). Hopefully, he hangs in there and keeps making saves for us. We owe him a lot of goals."

The Rangers, who have scored a league-low 13 goals in eight games this season and lost, 1-0, in a shootout by Boston on Saturday, have not tallied in 126 minutes.

Among the Rangers' best chances to score in this one came when Ryan Callahan hit the goalpost with 5:05 to play in the contest.

"Both games, we had chances," New York captain Jaromir Jagr said. "(But) whatever chances we had, the goaltender just stopped. We just have to keep working hard. It's going to come. You've got to believe. There's nothing else to do."