Malgin, Panthers double up Penguins
 Source: Reuters

[October 23, 2019]  Denis Malgin scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and added an assist in the third, leading the Florida Panthers past the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Tuesday night at Sunrise, Fla.

Malgin, who has three goals and three assists in his past six games, helped the Panthers earn their third win in four games. The Penguins lost their second in a row after a five-game winning streak.

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky entered the game with a 4.07 goals-against average, but he made 23 saves on Tuesday and allowed a season-low-tying two goals for his third win.

Noel Acciari, Jonathan Huberdeau and Frank Vatrano scored Florida's other goals. Huberdeau added an assist.

Brian Boyle, a 34-year-old center who signed with the Panthers on Monday, played his first game of the season and had three shots on goal in 14:07 of ice time.

Teddy Blueger and Patric Hornqvist scored for Pittsburgh, Jake Guentzel added two assists, and Matt Murray made 18 saves. Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby was held to one assist.

Florida center and team captain Aleksander Barkov, who played just 1:55 on Saturday against Nashville due to an upper-body injury, returned to the lineup, although he appeared to play in pain. He recorded two assists in 17:06 of ice time.

Panthers second-line center Vincent Trocheck, who scored the only shootout goal Saturday in Florida's 3-2 win at Nashville, sat out due to a lower-body injury.

The Panthers were also without their top defenseman, Aaron Ekblad, who was a late scratch due to an illness. He was replaced by Mark Pysyk. In addition, Florida defenseman Mike Matheson blocked a shot in the second period and did not return.

Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) checks Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Patric Hornqvist (72) during the second period at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, was without five injured players: defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forwards Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Nick Bjugstad and Alex Galchenyuk.

Florida opened the scoring with 10:54 gone in the second period as Acciari's shot deflected off Murray's stick before bouncing in off the goalie's back.

Pittsburgh tied the score 1-1 just 63 seconds later on a two-on-one breakaway created by a poor line change. Blueger and Guentzel worked a perfect give-and-go, with the former tapping the puck into an empty net after Bobrovsky had moved all the way over to his left.

Florida went back on top 2-1 with just two minutes left in the second period on Malgin's goal. Huberdeau did some nifty stickhandling to get Malgin the puck.

Huberdeau then gave Florida a 3-1 lead at 13:42 of the third period, but Hornqvist's goal just 43 seconds later cut Pittsburgh's deficit to 3-2.

Vatrano sealed Florida's win with an empty-net goal with 63 seconds left.

--Field Level Media

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