Penguins 5, Panthers 1
Evgeni Malkin extended his point streak to eight games with a goal and three assists as visiting Pittsburgh rolled over Florida for its third straight victory.
James Neal added a goal and an assist while Joe Vitale, Chris Kunitz and Jussi Jokinen also tallied for the Penguins, who improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight contests. Jeff Zatkoff turned aside 39 shots to earn his fourth victory in six decisions as Pittsburgh was outshot 40-22.
Scottie Upshall, who has nine points in as many games, scored the only goal for the Panthers. Tim Thomas yielded four goals on 13 shots over the first two periods in his 11th consecutive start before being replaced by Scott Clemmensen, who stopped eight shots in the third.
Kunitz knocked home a pass from Malkin during a power play 10:45 into the game as Thomas failed to get back in net after trying to clear the puck around the boards. Vitale jammed in his first goal of the season at the right post 32 seconds later and Zatkoff stopped all 15 shots he faced in the opening session.
Malkin deked Thomas and scored on the backhand at 7:23 on the Penguins’ first shot of the middle period for a 3-0 lead. Upshall flipped a backhander past Zatkoff during a man advantage with 2:07 left in the second, but Neal scored from the right faceoff circle after receiving a nifty pass from Malkin just 29 seconds later.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Malkin has collected four goals and 13 assists during his point streak. … Florida RW Brad Boyes had a goal taken away after video review 10:15 into the second period, when he was ruled to have kicked LW Sean Bergenheim’s pass into the net. … The Penguins were 1-for-1 on the power play and have scored nine times with the man advantage in their last seven games.