Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Evgeni Malkin, Carl Hagelin, Bryan Rust and Justin Schultz scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Pittsburgh in his second straight win against New Jersey in five days. Fleury made 23 saves in a 4-1 win at PPG Paints Arena on Friday. The goal was Malkin's 800th NHL point. Crosby has scored in four straight games and extended his point streak to five. The Penguins (23-8-5) are 10-1-2 in December and have outscored opponents 57-32 in that span. PA Parenteau and Adam Henrique scored, and Cory Schneider made 24 saves for the Devils (13-15-7), who are 1-8-1 in their past 10 games. Schultz scored with 5.4 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Penguins their first lead of the game, 3-2. Crosby tied the game 2-2 when he converted a pass from Conor Sheary 10:56 into the second. Hagelin took a lead pass at center ice from Chad Ruhwedel and broke in against Schneider before taking a slap shot to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead 3:13 into the third. Rust scored into an empty net with 1:18 remaining in the third after the Penguins killed a double minor for high-sticking to defenseman Ian Cole with 5:58 left. Parenteau and Henrique scored in the first period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. Parenteau tipped in a pass from Taylor Hall off a 2-on-1 at 1:18 for a 1-0 lead. Malkin scored a power-play goal at 6:43 to tie the game 1-1. Henrique gave the Devils a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal from the right circle at 8:23.
* Malkin scored his 15th of the season on the power play when he took a pass from Crosby in the right circle 6:43 into the first period.
"[Crosby] gives me lots of assists," Malkin said. "He gives me good passes and I knew on that power play he'd spot me open. I knew he would get it back to me."
* Fleury made a stick save while spinning in his crease with the Penguins holding a 4-2 lead 4:10 into the third. Henrique took the initial shot that deflected off defenseman Ian Cole and into the air.
* Kyle Palmieri broke his stick on an attempted shot from the left circle, but the puck slid right into the right circle to Henrique, who scored his ninth goal 8:23 into the first for a 2-1 lead.
* Without defensemen Kris Letang (lower body), Trevor Daley (upper body) and Olli Maatta (illness), the Penguins defense limited the Devils to 23 shots, including 15 over the final two periods. New Jersey finished 1-for-7 on the power play.
* Maatta missed his first game of the season. ... Sullivan had no update after the game on defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who left after getting hit in the side of the face with the puck with 5:58 left in the third. ... Schneider has allowed four or more goals in eight of his past 13 games (3-7-3). ... Schultz has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his past 14 games. ... Crosby has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak and 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games.
"I think all of our top guys have had real consistent play night in and night out for 30-plus games and that's what's helping us gain the success."
"[Malkin] is a great player and 800 points is a lot of points in this League. He has the ability to take a game over and that's what he does for us at times. I think his play this whole season has been very consistent on the power play and 5-on-5, and regardless who we put him. He finds ways to generate offense."
Mike Sullivan said.
Carolina Hurricanes @ Penguins 2-3 - Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 third-period saves to help the Pittsburgh Penguins come back and defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena. Fleury replaced Matt Murray, who made 25 saves on 27 shots, to start the third period. Fleury won his third straight game one night after making 21 saves in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. After being told he would enter the game, Fleury said he used the second intermission to warm up in the Penguins gym by taking shots from injured defenseman Kris Letang. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Murray sustained a lower-body injury near the end of the second period but provided no additional details. Chris Kunitz and Carl Hagelin scored for Pittsburgh, which trailed 2-1 in the third period. Kunitz tied it 2-2 at 1:59. The goal was his first since Nov. 12, when he scored his second goal of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hagelin scored his second goal in as many games to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead with 4:15 remaining. The Penguins (24-8-5) have won three straight since losing 7-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 22.
* Hagelin scored the game-winner after Patric Hornqvist drove through the offensive zone. Hornqvist passed to Hagelin in the right circle, where he one-timed a shot over Ward's glove.
* With the Penguins trailing 1-0, Murray stopped a shot from Ron Hainsey with his left pad before the puck slid through the crease. Sebastian Aho shot the rebound off Murray's right pad and the left post before it bounced behind Murray, who closed his left pad behind him to freeze the puck with 8:10 remaining in the first period.
* Ward kept the Penguins from taking a 2-1 lead with a breakaway save. Scott Wilson went backhand-to-forehand but was denied by Ward's right pad at 3:24.
* Without Letang (lower body), Olli Maatta (illness) and Brian Dumoulin (jaw), Penguins defenseman Ian Cole played 24:35 and blocked seven shots.
* Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk did not play and is week to week with a lower-body injury. He had scored four goals and seven points in his past five games. … Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley played 20:52 after missing five games with an upper-body injury.
"It wasn't pretty. I mean, they came at us pretty hard and generated a lot. We did a good job of just sticking with it as best we could and got some big saves from [Murray and Fleury] throughout the game." Sidney Crosby
"It's a little different when you sit on the bench for a while and then you have to go in. You definitely don't feel as sharp right away. … I tried to move around and get the body moving." Fleury said.
"Whether we're down a goal or two, or if we're up, we continue to play the game hard. It was one of those nights where it was a bit of a struggle. We didn't seem to have a whole lot of juice as a team, and so it's trying to find ways to win. It's scratching, clawing, competing on pucks. It's getting in shot lanes. Good teams find ways. We know we don't have our A game here tonight. Over the course of a long season there are going to be those nights where we don't necessarily have our A game, but we better have our A commitment." Sullivan said.
Montreal Canadiens @ Penguins 3-4 OT - Saturday, December 31, 2016
Evgeni Malkin scored 1:54 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens at PPG Paints Arena. Malkin scored on a slap shot during a power play Pittsburgh received when Montreal was called for too many men on the ice in overtime. The Penguins tied it 3-3 with 55 seconds left in the third period. Justin Schultz's shot went off teammate Conor Sheary past Carey Price. Brian Flynn gave Montreal a 3-2 lead 2:04 into the third after he shot off the left post behind Marc-Andre Fleury. The puck went through the crease and hit Pittsburgh defenseman Chad Ruhwedel's skate and Fleury before crossing the goal line. The Penguins (25-8-5) ended December on a four-game winning streak. They won 12 of 15 games this month (12-1-2). Malkin had the goal and an assist and is tied with Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid for the NHL lead with 43 points, one ahead of Crosby. It was Malkin's 10th NHL overtime goal, which is second in Penguins history to Mario Lemieux (11). The Canadiens (22-9-6) are 1-2-2 in their past five games. They have not won consecutive road games since defeating the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders on Oct. 22 and 26 during an eight-game winning streak, but took four of a possible six points from three road games in the past four days. Alexander Radulov gave Montreal a 1-0 lead 4:07 into the first period. Shea Weber carried the puck into Pittsburgh's zone and left it for Paul Byron, who made a cross-ice pass to Radulov, who one-timed a shot past Fleury. Patric Hornqvist tied it 1-1 by tapping a pass from Malkin past Price at 1:07 of the second period, and Phil Kessel gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead with his 12th goal of the season at 4:28. Byron tipped a shot from Jeff Petry past Fleury to tie it 2-2 with 39 seconds remaining in the second.
* With the Penguins trailing 1-0, Sheary had a chance to tie it after receiving a pass from Chris Kunitz behind the net and shooting off Price's blocker. Price, falling forward, dropped his stick and batted the puck out of midair with his blocker 6:46 into the first period.
* Kessel gave the Penguins a lead by going by Ryan Johnston down the far wall and holding off Johnston on his way to Price. Kessel went forehand-to- backhand to lift a shot over Price's blocker early in the second period.
* Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, in his first game back from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss seven games, played 25:40. He had two assists, two hits, two takeaways and two blocks.
* Weber played a game-high 28:42 and had four hits and four blocks in his 800th NHL game. … Crosby's goal streak ended at five games and his point streak ended at six. … Fleury tied Tom Barrasso for 17th on the NHL wins list with No. 369.
"I thought the 4-on- 3 in overtime was terrific. They had some real high-quality chances. [Sidney Crosby] had two great chances on a real nice play by [Phil Kessel], and obviously [Malkin's] goal was a goal-scorer's goal." Mike Sullivan said.
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