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Malkin, Staal put Penguins back on track

Jan 14, 2009 - 4:46 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- A month-long drought perhaps exerted a feeling of desperation - and the Pittsburgh Penguins sure played like it.

All-Star Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal each scored key goals in the second period and the Penguins produced a much-needed positive effort en route to beating the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2, on Tuesday.

Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke each tallied and captain Sidney Crosby, also named to the All-Star team, notched two assists for the Penguins, who won for the second time in their last nine games.

"It's been a long time that we've played such a solid game," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "We were solid when had the puck and we were solid when we didn't. We got a commitment from everyone and that was the result that we got. We were able to make some adjustment and it turned out positive."

Although the triumph kept Pittsburgh from falling further behind the pack of teams with playoff aspirations, the Penguins improved to just 8-15-1 in their last 24 games and are still looking up at the eighth spot in the crowded Eastern Conference.

Several months after helping the Penguins bounce the Flyers from the East finals in five games, Marc-Andre Fleury received plenty of support throughout the second period in a 26-save performance in this contest.

"We didn't give the Flyers any life," Therrien said. "We were trying to control the ice and I believe that our players did a great job. We were controlling ice and made sure that we kept that offense on the outside. We tried to control the zone and we did a good job."

Mike Knuble and Joffrey Lupul solved Fleury with tallies, but the Flyers were denied of their ninth straight victory at home. Had Philadelphia won, it would have matched the team's longest home winning streak since a nine-game run from October 7-November 12, 2005.

"They are still a good hockey team; they have a lot of quality players," Knuble said. "You play loose defensively and any team will make you pay in this league. This is the exact game that the Penguins needed.

"They were coming into a place where we haven't lost in regulation in a long time. It was a game that could have kept their negative streak going, but they got a game that helped their team."

Malkin snapped a 1-1 tie just 1:42 into the second, unleashing a wrister from the low slot after receiving a cross-ice pass from Crosby, who collected a turnover along the right boards before setting up the goal.

"We were gaining momentum shift after shift," Crosby said. "Every line did a great job. The grinders, so to speak, did a great job of keeping the puck in their zone. That was big."

Staal, who signed a four-year contract extension last week, ballooned the Penguins' lead to 3-1 with 7:35 left in the session and Cooke later converted passes from Crosby and defenseman Brooks Orpik with 26 seconds remaining to cap the rally.

"The season is getting shorter by the day and we got to make up some ground," Cooke said. "We can't leave it too long. When I was with Washington, we had to push ourselves to make the payoffs that we out ourselves in a tough position and we really don't want that."

Lupul recorded his 14th goal of the season 8:07 into the third, but it was not enough to negate a tough outing by goaltender Martin Biron, who turned aside 22 shots for Philadelphia.

"We started pretty slow," Flyers captain Mike Richards said. "We just didn't have one of our best games tonight. It is just one of those games where we got down and tried to battle back in the third, but they are too good of a team to do that. Hopefully it teaches a lesson.

"Lately it always seems that when we are down, we can battle back. We have to learn from it and hopefully come back with more energy."

Simon Gagne and defenseman Kimmo Timonen set up Knuble's goal 7:36 into the first, but Kennedy forged a tie nine minutes later.

"We've had a tough time recently but we earned the win tonight," Crosby said. "We could have felt sorry for ourselves after they got the goal on the bad bounce and said the breaks didn't go our way. We did a good job staying with it and we played a strong game."