Ottawa, ON – Evgeni Malkin's goal in the third round of the shootout lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday at Scotiabank Place.
Sidney Crosby and James Neal each scored to start the shootout before Malkin slipped a backhand under the pads of Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson to send the Penguins to victory.
Neal recorded the lone Pittsburgh goal in regulation, while Marc-Andre Fleury turned away 31 shots to help the Penguins halt a two-game skid.
"It was a little sloppy at times, but you've got to win them like that," Neal said. "It's going to be like that at times this year. Fleury was big for us tonight."
Colin Greening tallied Ottawa's only goal and Anderson registered 33 saves in the setback, the Senators' second in a row.
"Tough loss tonight, but the boys were solid in front of me and every point counts," Anderson remarked.
An Ottawa turnover led to Neal's tally in the latter stages of the first, as Malkin intercepted a pass at the red line and danced past a defender at the blue line before sliding a pass through the slot to the right circle for Neal, who one-timed a blast past Anderson for a 1-0 edge at the 13:31 mark.
The Senators then pulled even at the 13:44 mark of the second when Jason Spezza ripped a wrister from the left circle that Fleury turned aside, but Greening recovered the rebound and pushed the puck past a prone Fleury to knot the game at 1-1.
Neither offense managed to break through from there, as Anderson and Fleury stopped 11 shots apiece over the final 25 minutes to send the game to a shootout.
Game Notes
Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson (sick) did not play ... Spezza has registered one point in every game this season ... Fleury improved to 8-8-1 in 21 career games against Ottawa ... Malkin now has 324 career assists, tying him with Rick Kehoe for seventh on the Penguins all-time assists list.
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