Leopold lifts Pens in OT

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t need a team meeting or an 8:30 a.m. practice to refocus them following a bad loss.

Maybe they needed Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar on the ice again.

Jordan Leopold scored his first goal for Pittsburgh at 3:50 of overtime after Atlanta failed three times to hold leads, and the Penguins bounced back from one of their worst losses all season to beat the Thrashers 4-3 Saturday.

Malkin had a goal and an assist after sitting out five consecutive games and seven of eight with a bruised right foot. Gonchar, out for four games with strep throat, tied it on a power play with 74 seconds left in regulation and had an assist.

Sidney Crosby had three assists as the Penguins followed up a dismally played 2-0 loss at home to Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

Coach Dan Bylsma held a demanding and unscheduled practice 101‚Ñ2 hours following his team’s fourth loss in six games and a postgame meeting, but the Penguins appeared to respond more to the return of Malkin and Sergei Gonchar than they did to any punitive measures.

“It’s great to have them back,” Crosby said. “Obviously for them to miss some time like they did and come back and play the way they did, and make an impact right away, that’s huge for us.”

Pittsburgh moved past Buffalo and into third place in the Eastern Conference with 97 points, one more than the Sabres.

New Jersey’s win over Carolina gives the Devils the Atlantic Division lead.

“We didn’t have our best game, no, but we made some progress and we got a couple of big guys back in the lineup,” Leopold said.

Leopold won it with his eighth goal overall and first since Jan. 31 with Florida, cutting down the right-wing boards before spinning to avoid defenseman Mark Popovic and putting a bad-angle shot past goalie Johan Hedberg, a former Penguins playoff hero.

“I was tired at the end of the shift and actually wanted to get off, and I threw it on the net and I think I surprised them,” Leopold said.

No better way to get off the ice than that.

The Thrashers, desperately trying to stay in the race for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, took leads on goals by Maxim Afinogenov, Tim Stapleton and Rich Peverley, but the Penguins answered each time. Tyler Kennedy also scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves.