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Conklin, Malkin propel Penguins past Islanders

Feb 27, 2008 - 4:20 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) - Ty Conklin's busy night in goal capped off a very productive day for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Conklin made 50 saves and All-Star Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist as the Penguins overcame a whopping shot disparity to defeat the New York Islanders, 4-2, on Tuesday.

"Sometimes shot clocks aren't really indicative of the game," Conklin said. "I don't know if we played our best, but we got some breaks and they hit a couple of crossbars."

"He certainly deserved to win the game," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "The concentration was there."

The victory came hours after the Penguins made of the biggest moves prior to the trading deadline, acquiring Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers in a multi-player deal.

In a separate move, Pittsburgh acquired veteran defenseman Hal Gill from Toronto.

Jeff Taffe and Jordan Staal each had a goal and Connor James recorded his first career tally for the Penguins, who earned a point in their sixth straight game but had none of their new additions on the lineup.

"We were missing a lot of players tonight," Therrien said. "A lot of guys got a big time opportunity to play."

Fran Nielsen and Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Islanders, who have lost back-to-back games following a seven-game losing streak.

"I thought we worked hard. I thought we carried the majority of the play," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "We just didn't have any finish around the net."

The Islanders controlled play early, collecting the first 13 shots of the game and posting a 23-6 edge in shots after one period.

Conklin again was in goal for the Penguins, although Marc-Andre Fleury is expected back soon from a groin injury that has sidelined him since early December. Conklin made his case for keeping the job as the Penguins killed off nine of 10 penalties.

"I haven't seen a goalie steal a game like that this year," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "He is probably our MVP since Sid (Crosby) went out, he and Malkin. It's not something we want to make a habit of though."

The Islanders are just 1-for-23 on the power play in their last five games.

New York came close tying the game early in the third when a shot by newly acquired defenseman Rob Davison went off the stick of Trent Hunter and hit the crossbar.

Pittsburgh made its second shot of the night count when Malkin, who was without a point in his last two games, put a wrister from the right circle past Rick DiPietro at 10:50 for his 36th goal of the season.

The Penguins capitalized on a two-man advantage about seven minutes later when Taffe put home a rebound of a shot by Petr Sykora to make 2-0. The goal came shortly after Conklin made a nice save on a shorthanded chance by Hunter.

Nielsen cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:26 of the second, taking a centering pass from Jeff Tambellini and putting the puck past Conklin. Tambellini was recalled from the minors earlier in the day.

Staal made it a two-goal game by scoring a wrist shot from the left circle with 7:05 remaining in the third period.

James, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, gave Pittsburgh a three-goal lead just over three minutes later.

Fedotenko scored a power-play goal with 77 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.

"I don't think I've ever played a game where we had this many shots and didn't win," New York's Sean Bergenheim said. "The power play was awful."