Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist Saturday to help the Pittsburgh Penguins top the visiting St. Louis Blues 4-2.
Drew O’Connor, Jeff Carter and Sidney Crosby also scored, and Jake Guentzel had two assists for the Penguins, who are 6-1-1 in their past eight.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 25 saves.
Robert Thomas and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Blues, who lost their second straight.
St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer, facing the Penguins for the first time, made 26 saves.
The Blues played without defenseman Justin Faulk, who got hurt late in a loss Friday against Colorado.
O’Connor scored at 15:32 of the first to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Malkin carried the puck from the left point to the left dot, then sent a saucer pass into the middle of the slot. O’Connor one-timed the puck over Hofer’s glove.
Pittsburgh’s Valtteri Puustinen beat Hofer with 30 seconds left in the first, but it was waved off as Puustinen was called for a high-sticking infraction that happened a couple seconds earlier.
That St. Louis power play carried over to the second, and the Blues cashed in. From the top of the right circle, Jordan Kyrou threaded a back-door pass to Thomas, who sent a sharp-angle one-timer inside the left post to tie it 1-1 at 1:06.
Pittsburgh scored on a power play to take a 2-1 lead. Guentzel, from the left circle, sent a pass to the far side of the crease, where it glanced in off Malkin’s right skate at 6:50 of the second.
Carter upped it to 3-1 at 4:48 of the third when he shoveled in a one-timer off a feed from Jansen Harkins, who picked up his first point as a Penguin with the assist.
At 10:31 of the third, Kapanen made it a one-goal game again when he deflected in a shot by Scott Perunovich just after a Blues power play expired to cut it to 3-2.
Crosby added an empty-netter for his 20th goal with 1:31 left. Erik Karlsson’s assist was the 600th of his career.
–Field Level Media
