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Malkin snaps tie to lift Penguins past Sabres

Jan 6, 2007 - 5:31 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Evgeni Malkin continues to be an early favorite for the Calder Trophy.

Malkin snapped a tie late in the second period and defenseman Sergei Gonchar added two assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who extended their winning streak to three games with a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

The league leader among rookies in goals (19), points (38) and power-play tallies (nine), the 19-year-old Malkin shares the team lead in goals with Sidney Crosby, who was the runner-up to Washington's Alex Ovechkin for last season's Calder Trophy.

After Buffalo blue-liner Toni Lydman was called for hooking late in the middle session, Malkin fired a slap shot from the right faceoff circle past goaltender Ryan Miller and just under the crossbar with three seconds remaining in the period, giving Pittsburgh a 3-2 edge.

"Right now, there's a great chemistry with those three guys together, with Crosby and (Mark) Recchi," Penguins coach Michel Terrrien said. "They certainly give us a chance to win. The power play clicked, gave us two nice goals. The special teams had a huge impact and we finished plus-1."

"I thought we did a better job of slowing them down in the neutral zone (and) gave them a little less space," Crosby said. "Last time we played here, we backed off a little bit and gave them room to skate, and they're a skating team. I thought we trapped them a little bit and didn't give them enough space."

The game was tied at 1-1 when Chris Drury scored his 21st goal. On a power play midway through the second, Drury took fellow co-captain Daniel Briere's pass on the doorstep and beat netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to the glove side.

Rookie Jordan Staal evened the contest at 2-2 nearly three minutes later, when he drilled the rebound of defenseman Josef Melichar's shot inside the left goalpost for his 12th tally.

"They were some big games against some big teams," Staal said of his team's winning streak. "Carolina (on Tuesday) was a huge game for us. Now that we got this one, we have a good feeling in the dressing room. Hopefully, we'll keep that going."

Blue-liner Ryan Whitney netted his seventh goal in the second period, Dominic Moore added an empty-net tally and Fleury made 31 saves as the Penguins beat the Sabres for the first time in six meetings.

"When you get a win against Buffalo, it's always a good thing," Fleury said. "The guys played great tonight. The defense helped me out a lot (and) blocked shots. The forwards played good, too. Overall for 60 minutes, we played a good game."

"It's always a challenge to play teams like this," Therrien said. "We're a young team (and) really stuck to the game plan again. ... With a big effort, we come back here. It's the way we played. I thought tonight, we deserved to win."

Derek Roy scored his sixth goal and Miller stopped 23 shots for Buffalo, which has dropped two in a row following a four-game winning streak.

"I think it's obvious we are pressing," Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "Guys with good hands are making poor plays. We've got to walk our way through it, and guys that normally handle the puck well didn't. After all, you end up with some pretty ineffective power plays."

"They've got a lot of players that can play out there," Sabres right wing Jason Pominville said. "They move the puck extremely well. On one of (the power plays), I broke my stick. They took advantage of that."