Malkin’s hat trick lifts Penguins

Pittsburgh has won a
season-best five straight games.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin had his first NHL three-goal game and the Pittsburgh Penguins put Toronto away with three goals in 48 seconds early in the third period, returning indoors for a 6-2 victory Thursday night that ran their season-best winning streak to five games.

Sidney Crosby assisted on two of Malkin’s goals, Petr Sykora had a goal and an assist and Ty Conklin turned aside 33 shots to improve to 6-0 as a starter since being called up from the minors following goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s ankle injury.

The Penguins showed no aftereffects from their physically demanding 2-1 Winter Classic outdoor victory Tuesday in Buffalo, the first non-arena NHL game played in the United States.

The players talked during a long practice Wednesday of not getting caught up in the emotion and the aura of the showcase game, watched by the largest crowd to attend an NHL game.

The Penguins didn’t, either, coming up with another solid defensive effort — they have allowed only eight goals during the five-game streak, all with Conklin in net. With a much better ice surface on which to skate and no blowing snow, the Penguins seemed back in their element.

Toronto’s Jason Blake scored the opening goal midway through the first, but the Maple Leafs gave backup goalie Scott Clemmensen no more offensive support until they trailed by four goals. Clemmensen couldn’t stand up to the third-period flurry in which three of Pittsburgh’s four lines got goals while pushing the Penguins’ lead from 2-1 to 5-1 over a span of three shifts.

Rookie Tyler Kennedy started the Penguins’ four-goal third period flurry by scoring three minutes in, making it 3-1 after Jordan Staal gained control of the puck along the boards. Malkin scored again 37 seconds later and, after the Penguins won the ensuing faceoff, Sykora scored 11 seconds after that, causing Toronto coach Paul Maurice to hastily call a timeout.

Malkin had made it 2-1 with about 51⁄2 minutes remaining in the second period, setting up down low and scoring off Crosby’s pass from the high slot. Eric Christensen had scored the tying goal, his sixth, on a wraparound in the opening two minutes of the period.

Malkin missed getting the hat trick when he whiffed from the side of the net during a Penguins power play late in the third, but scored his 18th goal of the season a few seconds later as fans littered the Mellon Arena ice with hats.

Mats Sundin assisted on both Toronto goals, but the Maple Leafs lost their fourth in five games and seventh in nine games. Sundin has 13 goals and 20 assists in his last 19 games against the Penguins and 81 points in 39 career games against them.

Notes

Toronto reached the halfway point of its season with a 16-17-8 record. ... In a switch, the Penguins wore their white jerseys at home and the Maple Leafs wore their home blue. ... The Penguins are 14-5 since being a season’s worst 8-11-2 on Nov. 21. ... Crosby doesn’t have a regulation goal in six games, but has a goal and 11 assists in his last seven games.