Penguins Win, Tie for 1st in Atlantic

[March 21, 2008]  PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins moved into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

Jarkko Ruutu, Jordan Staal and Petr Sykora also scored for the Penguins, who have won four of five and beat Tampa Bay at home for the first time since Nov. 2, 2002 -- a span of eight games.

Pittsburgh and New Jersey both have 91, one fewer than Eastern Conference-leading Montreal.

Filip Kuba and Vincent Lecavalier each had a goal and an assist and Jussi Jokinen had two assists for the Lightning, who lost for the second consecutive night and have the conference's worst record.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 14:20 in when Ruutu scored his fourth, slamming in a rebound of Brooks Orpik's shot while standing to the right of goalie Mike Smith. Ruutu then took a stick to the face from Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle, drawing a penalty as he scored his second goal in two games and first at home since Feb. 6, 2007.

Lecavalier tied it on the power play 4:18 into the second when his wrist shot appeared to hit Orpik's hand before getting by sprawling goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

This is the second consecutive season Lecavalier has had at least 40 goals. He scored an NHL-best 52 last season.

Malkin tallied his 42nd less than 6 minutes later. Ryan Whitney made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone and fed Malkin, who was just left of Smith. Malkin's first shot was blocked by Kuba, but he backhanded the rebound under the crossbar to make it 2-1.

The Penguins scored twice during the first 51 seconds of the third period, but Tampa Bay cut the deficit to 4-2 a minute later.

Staal scored his 12th of the season and third in five games 35 seconds in after Pascal Dupuis stole the puck from Smith.

Just 16 seconds after that, Sykora netted his 26th.

Sykora was then called for hooking 22 seconds later, leading to Kuba's power-play goal, his fourth of the season and first since Dec. 4.

Notes: Malkin has 99 points, three behind NHL leader Alex Ovechkin. ... Penguins captain Sidney Crosby missed his fourth straight game -- and 25th of the past 28 -- with an ankle injury. ... Tampa Bay RW Martin St. Louis played in his 600th NHL game. ... Tampa Bay killed both Pittsburgh power plays and has been successful 14 of the past 15 short-handed situations.

[Associated Press; By PETE IACOBELLI]

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