Fleury brilliant in shutout for Pens

Associated Press

UNIONDALE, N.Y.

Everyone in black and gold raved about the play of Marc-Andre Fleury — everyone except for the humble Pittsburgh Penguins goalie.

Fleury sheepishly smiled every time he was asked about how he turned away the New York Islanders over and over and led the Penguins to a 3-0 victory Tuesday night for his 20th NHL shutout.

“There was some pretty good ones,” Fleury said of his 33 saves, “but that’s just part of being a goalie. It doesn’t matter if they are simple or hard, you’ve just got to try to get out there and make the save and keep your team in the game. I know some other times they save [you].”

Pascal Dupuis, Richard Park and Jordan Staal scored for the Penguins, who won their fourth straight and sent the Islanders to their third consecutive loss after three wins in a row.

The teams will meet again Thursday in Pittsburgh.

“We were very fortunate to come out of that game with two points,” Park said of the Penguins, who had 29 shots. “We’re going to have to go home and regroup. Flower played a phenomenal game and definitely kept us in it until we found our game.”

Evgeni Malkin returned to the Penguins’ depleted lineup after missing five games because of his sore right knee, but Pittsburgh didn’t need any offense from him to win this one.

Staal sealed the victory with his sixth goal, scoring into an empty net off an assist from Dupuis, with 2 minutes left.

Malkin sat out seven of the previous eight games, and the Penguins hardly missed him. Pittsburgh is 7-2-2 through an NHL-high 11 games.