Malkin, Fleury carry Penguins past Canadiens

Associated Press

MONTREAL

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play knocked Montreal’s surprising playoff run off track, and native son Marc-Andre Fleury delivered the coup de grace to silence an enthusiastic Canadiens crowd.

Evgeni Malkin scored his fourth power-play goal 1:16 into the third period and Fleury made 18 saves for his fourth NHL playoff shutout, lifting Pittsburgh to a 2-0 win over the Canadiens on Tuesday night and a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Montreal hadn’t been shut out at home in the playoffs since back-to-back blankings by Buffalo at the old Forum on April 6-7, 1983, in the first two games of an opening-round, three-game sweep. The Canadiens had played 118 home playoff games since their previous shutout.

Malkin took Sergei Gonchar’s pass and fired a one-timer from the right side past Jaroslav Halak to give the Penguins a 1-0 edge. Alex Goligoski also assisted on Malkin’s fifth goal of the playoffs, but first since Game 4 of Pittsburgh’s first-round win against Ottawa.

“It seems like we’re having good chemistry with him and we’re finding those lanes,” Gonchar said. “When he’s there he has a chance to shoot but you have to realize there were a couple of guys in front. Sidney [Crosby] was in front of the goalie and [Chris Kunitz] was too, so it was kind of a five-man effort when we scored the goal.”

The Penguins went 4 for 4 on the power play in a 6-3 win in Friday’s series opener. Pittsburgh was 0 for 3 with the man advantage in a 3-1 loss in Game 2.

Pascal Dupuis scored into an empty net with 15 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

Fleury, a native of nearby Sorel, Quebec, slid across to make a left pad stop on Michael Cammalleri’s shot from the right side with 7:33 remaining.

“I got it pretty good,” said Cammalleri, who has eight goals and five assists. “Maybe in hindsight I should have got it up but I thought I could squeeze it by him coming across. He made a good save — he came across quick. I’ve got to make a better shot.”

Fleury stuck out his right pad to thwart Tomas Plekanec’s redirection on Cammalleri’s centering feed during a Canadiens power play late in the third.

“It’s Flower. He can do that stuff, the splits — he’s pretty flexible,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “He was really focused. Anything that came toward him, he was going to stop it.”

It was Fleury’s first playoff shutout since a 6-0 win over Philadelphia on May 18, 2008.

“It was great to see the guys play that way and get a big win,” Fleury said. “It’s good, but no matter what happens I think you’ve always got to focus on the next game. It’s the first one who wins four games, so we’ve just got to make sure we’re ready for the next one and be positive and try to win it.”

Pittsburgh outshot Montreal 25-18, including 13-3 in the second.

Halak stopped 23 shots for the Canadiens, who have lost seven of eight playoff games at home, including three of four this year.

“It was a game where the team that scored first was going to have a good chance of winning,” Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said.

Crosby, who leads NHL playoff scorers with 16 points, was held without a point for a second straight game.