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Fleury, Penguins blank Islanders

Jan 26, 2011 - 3:41 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots for his second shutout of the season while Craig Adams scored the lone goal as the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 1-0 win over the New York Islanders at CONSOL Energy Center.

Dustin Jeffrey and Arron Asham assisted on the only goal of the contest to help the Penguins win for a fifth time in six games.

Pittsburgh goes into the All-Star break with a record of 31-15-4, good for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference and second position in the Atlantic Division behind Philadelphia.

The Pens were without the services of star forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Both players will sit out the upcoming All-Star game as Crosby continues his recovery from a concussion while Malkin has a balky knee and sinus infection.

Kevin Poulin was sharp as he stopped 30-of-31 shots, but it was not enough to prevent the Islanders from falling for a seventh time in the past nine games.

"We battled, but there were opportunities to get more pucks to the net," said New York head coach Jack Capuano. "Kevin Poulin played great for us tonight."

The ongoing saga between New York and Evgeni Nabokov took another turn on Tuesday as the team suspended the goaltender for not reporting to the club.

Nabokov signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings last Friday, but was then claimed off waivers by the Islanders. However, he has yet to report for the team, which sits second from the bottom in the Eastern Conference.

The game went scoreless for the first 48-plus minutes until Adams scored at the 8:35 mark of the final period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

After a right circle faceoff win, Ben Lovejoy blasted a shot on net from the right point that made it's way through, but Poulin made the stop. The rebound kicked out to the left side and Asham threw a turnaround shot on net that was stopped, hit off of Jeffrey and went to the slot where Adams snapped it home for his third goal of the year.

Fleury completed the 18th shutout of his career by stopping all 10 shots he faced in the third to help the Pens hang on for the win.

Game Notes

Pittsburgh comes back from the break next Tuesday to face the Rangers in New York...The Islanders host Carolina on Wednesday...The Pens have taken two of three from the Isles this season. New York has dropped 10 straight and 13 of 14 in the Steel City.