Malkin extends goal streak to 4 games over NJ

Although the Pens allowed the first goal, the Pens stormed back to tie it at 1 at the end of the 1st period. Nils Ekman scored his 2nd of season, with the loan assist going to Mark Eaton, his first point as a Penguin.

The 2nd period belonged to the Pens, featuring goals by Crosby (3rd from Malkin and Whitney) and Staal (4th, and first even-strength of his career, from Recchi and Ekman) to go into the 2nd intermission up 3-1.

NJ would crawl back into it about 8 minutes into the 3rd, to make it 3-2, but Malkin's impression of Mario Lemieux's 1991 goal in the Cup Finals vs the North Stars, a superpurb highlight-reel goal two and a half minutes later restored the two goal lead. Assists went to Crosby and Whitney.

Coach Therrien had Malkin and Crosby on the same line for almost the whole game, and it paid dividends, with the line scoring two goals. The line of Recchi-Staal-Ekman also had two goals. All four goals were at even strength, with the PK going 6 for 6. The Pens only had 3 chances on the PP, and although they looked good, just could not get their chances to go in.

Noah Welch and Maxime Talbot were called up from WBS since the Saturday game vs Columbus. Each played their first game of the season.

Tonight's win put the Pens in sole possession of 1st place in the Atlantic Division with a 5-3 record and 10 points, leapfrogging the Devils, and also extended their win streak to 3 games, their first such streak since March 2004.

Next up is a visit to the Flyers on Saturday, October 28, followed by a three game trip out to LA, SJ and Anaheim. Next home game is not until November 8.

Stats Update after 8 team games:

Name Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/-
Sidney Crosby C 8 3 9 12 10 +4
Michel Ouellet R 8 4 3 7 2 -3
Sergei Gonchar D 8 2 4 6 12 -1
Ryan Whitney D 8 2 6 8 10 +1
Mark Recchi R 8 0 6 6 4 +3
Evgeni Malkin C 4 4 2 6 2 +4
Nils Ekman R 8 2 4 6 10 -2
Jordan Staal C 8 4 0 4 0 +1
Colby Armstrong W 8 0 3 3 17 +3
Kristopher Letang D 7 2 0 2 4 -3
Jarkko Ruutu L 8 1 1 2 12 -1
Dominic Moore C 8 0 2 2 8 -1
Rob Scuderi D 8 0 2 2 0 E
Josef Melichar D 8 1 0 1 4 +1
Ryan Malone F 7 0 1 1 19 -4
Mark Eaton D 8 0 1 1 2 E
Jocelyn Thibault (G) G 1 0 0 0 0 0
Karl Stewart C 3 0 0 0 2 -1
Andre Roy L 3 0 0 0 7 0
Chris Thorburn C 6 0 0 0 9 -2
Marc-Andre Fleury (G) G 8 0 0 0 2 0
John LeClair L 8 0 0 0 4 -4
Noah Welch D 1 0 0 0 4 E
Maxime Talbot C 1 0 0 0 0 E