Red Wings drop injury-depleted Penguins


December 13, 2011 at 9:48p.m.

Red Wings drop injury-depleted Penguins

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist and Jimmy Howard stopped 25 shots to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 victory over the injury-depleted Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

Johan Franzen added his team-leading 14th goal for Detroit and Danny Cleary provided some insurance with a pair of late goals as the Red Wings won their third straight.

Evgeni Malkin scored his 11th goal of the season for Pittsburgh, but the Penguins went 0 for 4 on the power play and couldn’t connect on their few quality chances.

The Penguins played without captain Sidney Crosby, who missed his third straight game and 23rd overall this season following a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. Pittsburgh is 1-2-0 during Crosby’s current absence, with both losses to members of the league’s elite.