Malkin's 400th goal helps Penguins topple Flames

[December 18, 2019]    Two second-period goals and the 400th tally of Evgeni Malkin's career lifted the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins past the Calgary Flames 4-1 on Tuesday.

Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry (35) guards his net against the Calgary Flames during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and John Marino each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which won its third straight and improved to 13-3-1 against the Western Conference.

Malkin became the eighth active player and fourth player in Penguins history to reach 400 goals, joining Pittsburgh greats Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr.

Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry made 33 saves. He has won five of his past six starts, allowing a total of eight goals.

Johnny Gaudreau scored for Calgary, which lost its second in a row following a seven-game winning streak. Cam Talbot stopped 29 Penguins shots.

Pittsburgh, which has been injury-plagued all season, played nearly the entire game with five defensemen after Justin Schultz left less than two minutes into the first. He collided, knee on knee, with Calgary's Mikael Backlund, and appeared to injure his right knee.

The Flames dominated the first period, outshooting the Penguins 17-6.

Calgary took a 1-0 lead at 16:05 when Gaudreau converted a back-door pass from Tobias Rieder by sweeping the puck past Jarry's left pad for his 10th goal.

Pittsburgh flipped the script in the second, outshooting Calgary 16-9 and leapfrogging to a 2-1 lead.

Just after a Penguins power play expired, Marino, a rookie defenseman, picked up his fourth goal to tie it. Off a pass from Marcus Pettersson, Marino walked the puck from the right point to the near dot and beat Talbot short side.

Rust -- who missed practice Monday because of an illness that is making its way through the Pittsburgh locker room -- made it 2-1 just 1:22 later with his fourth goal in three games. He carried the puck behind the net out to the left circle and used Jake Guentzel as a screen for a shot that went in off Talbot's right pad.

Malkin, who missed the previous two games with, presumably, the same illness, scored an empty-netter with 1:58 left.

Letang added another empty-netter 20 seconds later.

--Field Level Media

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.