Pens beat Ottawa; fifth win in a row
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH
The past two weeks, Marc-Andre Fleury has been stopping almost all the shots thrown at him. It didn’t matter that it seemed they were coming from everywhere.
Fleury made a season-high 43 saves — more than he had in a game in 11 months — and Alex Goligoski scored the winning goal on Friday as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1 for their fifth consecutive win.
“They kept playing and made things pretty hard on us,” said Fleury, who last made as many saves Dec. 23, also against Ottawa. “They threw lot of pucks from a little bit of everywhere.”
The Senators had a season-high 44 shots — including 21 in the first period, the most the Penguins have allowed this season.
Fleury lost six of his first seven decisions and temporarily lost his starting job, but as he has played better, so have the Penguins. Pittsburgh and Fleury are 7-0-1 and he has a 1.60 goals-against average in their past eight.
“I’m still playing the same way I did. I’m just a little more relaxed,” Fleury said. “Things are going well. We’re winning games and the guys are helping me out. The team’s playing good, they’re not giving up scoring chances, and that helps a lot. We’re doing all right.”
Evgeni Malkin also scored with Sidney Crosby assisting on the play for the Penguins. Crosby extended his points streak to 11 games, third-longest of his career and tied for the longest in the NHL this season.
Jesse Winchester scored for Ottawa, which has lost five of six.
Goligoski’s fifth goal of the season came with 14:55 to play and 2:18 into a rare double-minor for two separate infractions given to the same player, Ottawa’s Chris Kelly (“That’s the first time I’ve seen that happen,” Kelly said).
Aided when Mike Fisher fell after a collision with Pittsburgh’s Mark Letestu in the high slot, Goligoski took the puck at the left point and walked in, firing a wrist shot that beat Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire short side, deflecting off the high post and in.
Malkin scored for the seventh time in his past six games against the Senators, scoring his eighth of the season.