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Malkin propels Penguins past Hurricanes

Feb 3, 2008 - 5:15 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- All-Star Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored four times in the third period to top the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-1, on Saturday.

Erik Christensen, Ryan Malone and Petr Sykora also scored for the Penguins, who improved to 3-2-1 since captain Sidney Crosby suffered a high ankle sprain on January 18.

"We really had a slow start tonight," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "But I believe in the second and third, we started to play. The concentration was there, the work ethic was there and this is what we have to do to win games."

Sergei Samsonov scored the lone goal for Carolina, which fell into a first-place tie with the Atlanta Thrashers in the Southeast Division.

With the Hurricanes nursing a one-goal lead, Christensen leveled the contest just 37 seconds into the third period.

After being knocked over in front of the net, Christensen capped a nifty tic-tac-toe sequence involving Jordan Staal and Maxime Talbot by blasting the puck past goaltender Cam Ward for his eighth goal of the season.

"The first period, we didn't play that well at all, and we got an earful after the (period from the coaches)," Christensen said. "Once you get that first one, the flood gates kind of open."

"I thought we played a strong first half of the game," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "Both teams were competing well, and we got outworked and outplayed. We talked about it between (the second and third) periods. If we continue down the road we did, we're going to find ourselves in trouble. And they scored on the first shift of the third period."

Malone gave the Penguins a 2-1 edge seven minutes later, but not without the aid of a video review.

With Pittsburgh on the power play, a scramble in front resulted in Malone poking the puck past Ward at 7:26 for his 14th goal. Replays clearly showed that the puck crossed the goal line before it was pulled out by the glove of defenseman Mike Commodore.

Malkin scored 72 seconds later, skating around two defenders before backhanding the puck past Ward for his 28th tally. The talented Russian has five goals and four assists in the six games Crosby has missed.

Sykora added a power-play goal with just under seven minutes remaining to provide the final margin.

Ty Conklin continued his impressive play in net, stopping 27 shots to improve to 12-3-1 since December 20.

"You have off-nights, but you want to make sure that the next time you get in net, you bring your best game," Conklin said.

Samsonov opened the scoring just 8:27 into the first period. A pass from Andrew Ladd deflected off Talbot to Samsonov, who beat Conklin for his fourth goal of the season.

"For the most part, for two periods, it was an even game," Samsonov said. "It's hard to put a finger on what happened in the third. We got outworked, and it ended up costing us the game."