Conklin strong in goal, again, as Penguins drop Hurricanes

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored a goal and set up two others during Pittsburgh’s offensive breakout in the third period, and the Penguins turned another strong game by goaltender Ty Conklin into a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night.

Petr Sykora had a goal and an assist as Pittsburgh scored on four of its first nine shots in the third against Carolina goaltender Cam Ward after Ward stopped all 18 shots he faced in the first two periods.

Malkin cut down the right wing boards and split between defensemen Bret Hedican and Tim Gleason to score his 28th goal and put the Penguins up 3-1 with their third goal in slightly more than nine minutes.

Erik Christensen and Ryan Malone also scored for Pittsburgh, which got yet another effective game from Conklin, who started the season in the minors. Conklin made 27 saves and didn’t allow a goal after Sergei Samsonov scored his fourth at 8:27 of the first period.

Since being called up following Marc-Andre Fleury’s ankle injury on Dec. 6, Conklin is 12-3-1 in 16 starts and has led Pittsburgh back into contention in the Atlantic Division. The Penguins have 62 points, one fewer than division-leading Philadelphia, after being in last place in late November.

The Penguins were frustrated for two periods by Ward, who played a succession of excellent games in net as Carolina seized the Southeast Division lead by winning four of five.

But Christensen’s goal only 37 seconds into the third period seemed to get the Penguins going after a lethargic first two periods.

With Pittsburgh on a power play, Sergei Gonchar’s shot from the point deflected to Malkin, who missed on his rebound attempt only to have Malone push the puck toward the net. Replays showed the puck trickling across the goal line before Ward turned it back.

Malkin has five goals and four assists in the six games since Sidney Crosby went down for six to eight weeks with a high ankle sprain. The Penguins, coming off a 4-1 loss Wednesday in Atlanta, are 3-2-1 without Crosby and still have not lost successive games in regulation since Dec. 11-13.

Sykora added a second power-play goal, his 16th, later in the period with Gonchar and Malkin getting assists.