Evgeni Malkin, feted in a pregame ceremony, scored the deciding goal in a shootout Wednesday to give the Pittsburgh Penguins their fourth straight win, a 2-1 verdict over the visiting Calgary Flames.
Malkin played in his 1,000th career game Sunday on the road, so he was honored Wednesday.
The eighth shooter in the shootout, he moved in on Flames goaltender Dan Vladar, deked, then slid the puck past his left skate and inside the post.
Rickard Rakell and Sidney Crosby also scored in the shootout, with Vladar stopping Jake Guentzel.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Rasmus Andersson scored for Calgary after Nazem Kadri missed, and Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped Mikael Backlund to set up Malkin’s winner.
The Penguins and Flames scored in the first and second periods, respectively, and that’s how it stood until the shootout.
Jan Rutta scored for the Penguins, who are 6-1-1 in their past eight games.
Jarry, coming off a shutout his previous start, made 33 saves through overtime and picked up his 100th career win (100-50-15).
Dillon Dube scored for the Flames, who had won two in a row. Vladar made 38 saves.
Rutta opened the scoring at 2:09 of the first. Alone in the middle of the slot, he let go a wrister that cruised over Vladar’s right pad for a 1-0 Pittsburgh lead.
The Penguins thought they extended their lead to 2-0 at 9:42 of the first when Malkin, from behind the net, fed Bryan Rust for a shot from near the right dot that got past Vladar. However, Calgary successfully challenged that Pittsburgh was offsides on the play — Jason Zucker was well into the offensive zone when the puck crossed the blue line — and the goal was waved off.
The Flames tied it 1-1 at 8:37 of the second. Chris Tanev took a shot from above the right circle. Dube got his stick on the puck for a deflection that bounced and knuckled past Jarry.
After a scoreless third, the Penguins missed a chance to win it in overtime when they got a power play, but they could not convert.
–Field Level Media
