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Staal's two goals helps Penguins edge Lightning

Jan 11, 2008 - 4:59 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Jordan Staal and the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins kept alive their winning streak.

Staal scored two goals and set up another as the Penguins posted a 4-1 victory over the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

Ryan Malone had a goal and an assist, Evgeni Malkin scored an empty-netter and Petr Sykora collected three assists for Pittsburgh, which extended its winning streak to eight games - the team's longest since capturing 10 in a row from January 28-February 15, 1999.

It also was the Penguins' first victory over the Lightning in nearly five years. Tampa Bay, which has lost eight of nine, had won a team-record 12 straight vs. Pittsburgh after suffering a 3-2 home loss on January 17, 2003.

"That (losing streak to Tampa Bay) is in the past, and if you're thinking about that, you're not worrying about the right things," Sykora said. "We wanted to stress that and start something new. A lot of guys haven't been here for that whole streak, so it got blown out of proportion a bit."

In this game, defenseman Paul Ranger gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead when he backhanded a rebound past goaltender Ty Conklin at 4:11 of the second period. However, the Penguins began a string of four unanswered tallies exactly eight minutes later.

With a man advantage, Staal redirected a blast by Sykora past netminder Karri Ramo to knot the game at 1-1 with 7:49 left in the middle session.

"We did pretty good taking advantage of our opportunities," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "I saw our power-play unit step up there. They got a big goal."

Less than 2 1/2 minutes later, Staal gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. After his wrister from the right side of the net bounced off Ramo and back to the him, Staal slipped the rebound between the pads of the goalie for his fifth of the season.

It was Staal's third career multi-goal game and first since recording a hat trick against Toronto on February 10.

"We're getting contributions from everyone, and that's what we need," Crosby said. "In order to win in this league, that's what you need. Guys are stepping up, and it's not the same guy every night."

Pittsburgh made it a two-goal advantage with 2:39 remaining in the third. Staal rocketed a shot that hit the skate of Sykora and went to Malone, who tallied from the doorstep to make it 3-1.

Malkin sealed the win with 12 seconds remaining with his 20th of the campaign.

The Penguins, who have outscored opponents, 28-10, during their winning streak, watched as Conklin and their defense successfully extinguished all four power-play opportunities by the Lightning.

"Our power play's got to get us a goal," Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis said. "We had chances (including a four-minute advantage), we got opportunities on the power play, we just didn't get it done. I think that was the difference."

Conklin stopped 35 shots in improving to 9-0-0 since being recalled from the minors by the Penguins on December 6.

"What do you say (about Conklin being unbeaten)?" Penguins defenseman Darryl Sydor asked. "You don't want to say too much (as not to jinx it), but Ty's been playing well. He's moving the puck, making the stops when we needed him and giving us the opportunity to win."

Ramo made 25 saves for Tampa Bay, which has dropped seven of eight here.

"We developed some offense, but 19 scoring chances (and) one goal just isn't good enough," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "We can dissect a game to rationalize it to be good and to make us feel good about it, but we lost. So it wasn't good enough."