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Penguins hope to bounce back against Sharks

Feb 24, 2008 - 3:38 PM San Jose (32-21-8) at Pittsburgh (35-21-6) 3:00 pm EST

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins host the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, hoping to keep pace at the top of the tightly packed Eastern Conference.

The Penguins have been riding the hot play of second-year star Evgeni Malkin for the last month while captain Sidney Crosby has been sidelined with a high ankle sprain. Crosby has been skating in practice and is expected to return soon.

In the meantime, the offense is in the very capable hands of Malkin. The All-Star center put seven shots on goal Saturday but had his 10-game points streak snapped as Pittsburgh squandered a three-goal lead and fell to the Ottawa Senators, 4-3.

Malkin has scored 30 points since Crosby went down on January 18 to take over the NHL lead with 82 points this season.

His inspired play had led the Penguins to three consecutive wins before Saturday's setback. They are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games and currently sit one point behind New Jersey (36-21-5, 77 points) for the lead in the Atlantic Division and two points behind the Senators (36-20-6, 78 points) for the East's top spot.

The Sharks ended a five-game slide Thursday with a 3-1 victory at struggling Philadelphia.

The victory kept San Jose in fifth place in the Western Conference, tied with Calgary (32-22-8), Vancouver (32-22-8) and Nashville (32-24-8) for the final four spots in the playoff race at 72 points.

All four clubs are four points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche (31-25-6), who currently sit ninth.

The Sharks have gotten six goals from Jonathan Cheechoo in the past seven games. The veteran right wing, who scored 56 goals two seasons ago, has just 17 tallies this season.