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Datsyuk, Howard topple Penguins
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Pittsburgh Penguins’ James Neal (18) and Evgeni Malkin (71) try to get the puck past Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard in the second period of a game Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Howard made the saves, and the Penguins did not score.
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH
Evgeni Malkin spent two periods making the Pittsburgh Penguins forget all about Sidney Crosby.
He couldn’t make it three.
Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist, Jimmy Howard stopped 25 shots and the Detroit Red Wings roared to a 4-1 victory over the injury-depleted Penguins on Tuesday despite a brilliant effort from Malkin.
The dazzling Russian scored his 11th goal of the season and hit the post twice in more than 23 minutes of mostly brilliant play, but ran out of steam as the Red Wings pulled away in the third period.
“Every single time he touched the puck it seemed like something was happening,” Howard said. “He’s a great player, there’s no way around it; he makes things happen when he’s out there.”
The Red Wings countered with balanced play led by Datsyuk, who steadied Detroit with a second-period goal to even things up before the Red Wings scored three times in the third.
“It was a great momentum boost for us,” Howard said of Datsyuk’s ninth goal of the season. “They were sort of carrying the play there in the second period and it’s just a great shot by Pavel.”
One that gave the Red Wings the boost they needed to win in Pittsburgh for the first time in three seasons.
“Detroit is a good team, they played quick,” Malkin said. “We had a couple of mistakes. In the last 10 minutes, we played bad and we didn’t have a chance to win.”
Crosby missed his third straight game and 23rd overall with concussion-like symptoms. Pittsburgh defensemen Kris Letang, Zbynek Michalek and Robert Bortuzzo are also out while dealing with similar issues.
The Red Wings publicly lamented the chance to play Pittsburgh at full strength in the renewal of a heated rivalry that saw the teams split a pair of thrilling Stanley Cup finals in 2008 and 2009. They weren’t complaining, however, after spending much of the night trying to keep Malkin in check. He gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead with a breathless end-to-end rush to just before the end of the first period and nearly made it 2-0 early in the second when his shot clanged off the post and momentarily stopped on the goal line before being swept out of danger.
The Red Wings took advantage of the reprieve, with Datsyuk evening the game at 1 in the second period before Detroit poured it on the third, scoring three times in the game’s final 15 minutes.