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Malkin, Sabourin lead Penguins over Bruins in shootout

Oct 21, 2008 - 3:04 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Just as the Boston Bruins waited longer than every team to compete in their home opener, the Pittsburgh Penguins waited longer than usual to win this one.

Evgeni Malkin scored the game-winner in the fifth round of a shootout to lead the Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Bruins on Monday.

Boston became the final team in the NHL to host their home opener this season and fell to 43-20-21 all-time in those contests, thanks to the stellar play from Pittsburgh goaltender Dany Sabourin.

"It is one of those games where overall I was happy with our effort," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "We did have some chances, but we failed to capitalize on those good opportunities, and at the end of it, we come away with just a point - and I thought we deserved better tonight.

"It wasn't a perfect game and the power play wasn't perfect, but it wasn't good enough to win."

Playing in his first game this season in order to give starter Marc-Andre Fleury a rest, Sabourin turned aside shots by Michael Ryder, David Krejci and Marc Savard to improve to 5-2 all-time in the bonus format.

"I like to play big and challenge a lot, and with my size, I can cover a lot of the net and it felt pretty good," Sabourin said. "I did not play a lot the last few months of the season last year, but I came into training camp and I felt pretty good - so I'm pretty happy about tonight."

The 28-year-old made 35 saves before the shootout in just his 30th career start. Petr Sykora was the only Penguin to solve Boston goaltender Tim Thomas in the bonus format before Malkin rewarded Sabourin's efforts.

"It felt pretty good and my teammates helped me clearing rebounds and that kind of stuff," Sabourin said. "I'm pretty happy about my performance tonight."

Captain Sidney Crosby and Malkin both registered assists for Pittsburgh (4-2-1), which took seven penalties.

"I thought in the third we have had some pretty good chances, but the first two were pretty open and we took some penalties and dug ourselves in a hole," said Crosby, who has just one goal on 26 shots this season.

"(Sabourin) played well; he was the difference for us."

Miroslav Satan opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with 69 seconds left in the first period. Satan bolted out of the penalty box and created a 2-on-1 rush with Malkin, whose initial attempt was denied by Thomas. Satan then took the rebound on the doorstep and flipped the puck past Thomas for his fourth goal of the season.

Satan also extended his point streak to three games with his fourth goal of the season.

Sabourin's only blemish in regulation came when Phil Kessel netted his fifth tally of the campaign on a power play with 6:07 remaining in the second to forge a tie for the Bruins (2-1-2). Kessel fired a wrist shot from the right side after receiving a pass from defenseman Andrew Ference.

"(Sabourin) was outstanding; the way that he was playing you wish that a good thing that was going to happen to him and win the game," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "Both goalies made some key saves at the right time, but Sabourin deserved to win."

Thomas made 31 saves in the losing effort.

"We played a good game tonight against some really good offensive players and we shut them down really good," Thomas said. "We should feel good about what we did tonight, but then you leave feeling more down than you should. That's the game, though."

Boston outshot Pittsburgh, 36-32, overall and by a 5-4 margin in the third.

Still, Therrien was impressed with his team's resiliency while it becomes accustomed to losing nearly half its forwards prior to the season.

"Looking around the league, there is a lot of low scores," Therrien said. "You see that more in October when there is scramble hockey and when the chemistry is not quite there, and I don't think we are any different than any other teams."