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Malkin, Sykora help Penguins crush Flyers

Mar 16, 2008 - 7:49 PM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - All-Star Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora each had two goals and two assists Sunday afternoon as the Pittsburgh Penguins moved to within a point of the Atlantic Division lead with a 7-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

All-Star Marian Hossa notched his first goal with his new club and Pascal Dupuis added three assists for the Penguins (41-24-7), who climbed within one point of the New Jersey Devils (42-24-6) for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves for Pittsburgh, which has scored 18 goals over its current three-game winning streak.

"It is nice to be able to play with confidence with the puck," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "I was most impressed with our defensive game. We stuck to our system from beginning to end. We got good results. That was a great game for us."

Malkin now has 97 points this season, moving him two points behind Washington's Alex Ovechkin for the NHL scoring lead.

"Hopefully I am going to continue getting points," Malkin said through an interpreter. "We had a good a game today, and I had a good game today also."

Mike Knuble scored his 27th goal of the season for the Flyers (35-28-10), who remained just one point ahead of the Buffalo Sabres (34-28-11) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

The Penguins scored on two of their first three shots and had a 2-0 lead before nine minutes had been played.

"We were chasing the game," Flyers coach John Stevens said.

Malkin became the fourth player to score 40 goals this season just 4 1/2 minutes into the contest when he circled around the net into the right faceoff circle and fired a no-look backhander that apparently surprised goaltender Martin Biron.

Pittsburgh doubled its advantage just over four minutes later when Sykora - who has 272 career goals but no hat tricks - scored for the third consecutive game, converting a nice across-the-slot setup from Dupuis.

"I could have had a couple (hat tricks), it just never really came out that way," Sykora said. "I had a couple (hat tricks) for the international team, a couple in the minors, nothing in the NHL yet. I think I have some years in front of me, so hopefully I'm going to get one."

Tyler Kennedy gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead 4:15 into the middle session. He backhanded a shot from the right faceoff circle past a sprawling Biron into a mostly open net for his 10th goal of the season and second in as many games.

That caused Stevens to pull Biron, who allowed three goals on eight shots. He was replaced by Antero Niittymaki, who made 23 saves.

"We're in eighth place and had a chance to gain some ground," Biron said. "When you get taken out of a game when your playoff life is on the line like that, you're never happy about it."

After Knuble's tally cut the deficit to 3-1, Malkin and Hossa both scored in a 31-second span to put the game out of reach.

"We just can't seen to find any consistency in our game right now," All-Star center Mike Richards said. "We played a terrible hockey game."

Hossa was acquired at the trade deadline from Atlanta, along with Dupuis, for three players and a first-round draft choice. He injured his knee in his Pittsburgh debut in Boston on February 28 and had not played since.

Sykora and defenseman Hal Gill each scored in the third period to give Pittsburgh a 7-1 lead. The Penguins have now scored seven goals in two straight games.

"We played like there is no tomorrow and I feel very confident about our team after today," Sykora said.