Penguins win 5-4 shootout at home

Evgeni Malkin and Erik Christensen had shootout goals to beat Chicago.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Evgeni Malkin tied the game late in the third period after Pittsburgh wasted a multiple-goal lead for the third game in a row, then teamed with Erik Christensen to score in the shootout as the Penguins rallied to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 Wednesday night.
The Penguins gained at least a point for the 14th consecutive game -- they are 12-0-2 during that stretch -- for the first time since they won 12 times and tied twice from Dec. 19, 1996, through Jan. 21, 1997. They also won their fourth consecutive shootout decision after losing five of their first six.
Fleury has big save
Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made a game-saving left skate save on Martin Havlat only seconds into overtime, then stopped both Havlat and Bryan Smolinski with glove saves in the shootout. Christensen began the shootout by beating Nikolai Khabibulin with a shot under the crossbar, and Malkin also got the puck past Khabibulin by faking a shot to the short side only to pull it back and score inside the far post.
Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, the NHL scoring leader with 88 points, got an assist but failed to score a goal for an eighth consecutive game -- the longest streak of his two-season career.
Tuomo Ruutu completed Chicago's comeback from a 3-1 deficit by scoring with about seven minutes remaining in regulation off Martin Lapointe's pass, putting the Blackhawks up 4-3. Ruutu appeared to come off the Chicago bench and score without a player going off -- six skaters went back to the bench after the goal -- but the Penguins couldn't convince referees Dean Warren and Ian Walsh to reverse the goal.
The Penguins, clearly unhappy with the call, came back to tie it at 4 about a minute later on Malkin's 28th goal. Khabibulin turned aside Crosby's shot, but Malkin gathered the rebound and pushed it inside the near post on his second attempt.
Fourth shootout win
Pittsburgh also lost a two-goal lead Thursday in Philadelphia and a three-goal lead Saturday in Toronto, although they came back to win both. They have four shootout wins and one in overtime during their 14-game point streak.
Ronald Petrovicky, Maxime Talbot and Michel Ouellet also scored for Pittsburgh, with Talbot getting his fourth short-handed goal of the season early in the second period to match Craig MacDonald's short-handed goal for Chicago in the first period.
Patrick Sharp took advantage of some Penguins confusion in the neutral zone to score with about a minute left in the second period, beating Fleury on a one-man rush after defenseman Brooks Orpik gave up the puck. Martin St. Pierre tied it at 3 by scoring his first NHL goal, on a power play early in the third. St. Pierre, called up from the minors three days before, played in his eighth NHL game.
Petrovicky's goal was his third in nine games after he went all season without one.
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