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Malkin, Penguins set to battle lowly Lightning

Mar 4, 2008 - 12:43 PM Pittsburgh (37-23-7) at Tampa Bay (26-32-7) 7:30 pm EST

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) - The Pittsburgh Penguins look the maintain their place atop the Eastern Conference when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.

Evgeni Malkin had an assist Sunday as the Penguins posted a 3-2 shootout victory over the Atlanta Thrashers, in goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury's return.

With 81 points, the Penguins are the conference leaders - though they are hardly on solid ground. The Montreal Canadiens (36-22-9) are tied with the Penguins in points, but are ranked second because they have one fewer win.

The New Jersey Devils (37-23-6) and Ottawa Senators (37-24-6) are lurking just one point back of those clubs.

Fleury, who missed nearly three months with a sprained ankle, made 31 saves and turned away all three shooters he faced in the bonus format in Sunday's game.

The 21-year-old Malkin leads Pittsburgh with 37 tallies and 88 points with a plus-10 rating. His performance has been critical since captain Sidney Crosby went down with an ankle injury.

The Lightning have just one win over their previous seven games and have fallen to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Tampa Bay is receiving some help from its trade-deadline acquisitions. Jeff Halpern is on a three-game point streak after going seven games without a point before coming over from the Dallas Stars.

Also coming over from Dallas, Mike Smith has one win in three starts since being traded.