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Surprising Penguins look for fourth straight victory

Oct 28, 2006 - 3:17 PM Pittsburgh (5-3-0) at Philadelphia (2-6-1) 7:00 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- It did not take long for the fortunes of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers to turn.

The suddenly high-flying Penguins go for their fourth straight victory when they take on the disappointing Flyers on Saturday.

Pittsburgh continued its surprising start to the season with a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. The second overall pick in 2004, Evgeni Malkin scored his fourth goal in his fourth NHL game, and has six points so far in his rookie campaign.

Sidney Crosby, the top pick in 2005, also had a goal and an assist for the Penguins.

Another reason for the good start for Pittsburgh is goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The 21-year-old turned away 20 shots against New Jersey to improve to 5-3-0 with a 2.66 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage in eight starts.

Philadelphia has been in turmoil all season, resulting in the firing of coach Ken Hitchcock and the resignation of general manager Bobby Clarke on Sunday.

The Flyers rallied under new coach John Stevens to snap a five-game losing streak on Thursday, recording a 3-2 shootout victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Simon Gagne and Peter Forsberg both scored in the shootout for the Flyers, who got 28 saves from Antero Niittymaki.

Philadelphia has won 11 of its past 13 games at home against the intra-state rival.