Penguins beat Bruins for 9th straight win

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

James Neal saw the puck roll to the corner and sprinted to dig it out. The sight of hockey’s most intimidating player standing in his way hardly mattered.

The Pittsburgh Penguins forward shoved Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara — all 6-foot-9 of him — in the back then nudged the puck to teammate Evgeni Malkin. The NHL’s leading scorer fed Matt Niskanen at the point, and when Niskanen’s slap shot hit the back of the net the league’s hottest team was on its way to a 5-2 win.

“We wanted to get on [Chara] and be physical and affect him as much as possible,” Neal said. “We did a good job at that from the first shift on.”

Neal finished with three points — including his first goal since signing a $30-million contract extension last month — for the Penguins, who have won nine straight to keep the pressure on the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers.

Chris Kunitz, Arron Asham, Pascal Dupuis and Niskanen also scored for Pittsburgh while Malkin had three assists to move into the NHL points lead with 84, two ahead of Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos.

Malkin also became the 17th Russian-born player to top 500 career points, though he was hardly concerned with the milestone.

“I not think about my points now,” Malkin said. “The season continues and playoffs come soon.”

And Pittsburgh’s postseason prospects appear to be improving by the day. The Penguins started the day four points behind the New York Rangers for the Atlantic Division lead and could get captain Sidney Crosby back by Thursday, when they start a pivotal three-game road trip at Madison Square Garden.

Whenever he comes back, Crosby will join a team that’s starting to look like a Stanley Cup contender even without the former MVP’s talents. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 34 shots to run his personal winning streak to eight, as the Penguins jumped on the Bruins early.