Pittsburgh 3 – New York 1: Pens dominate play in extending winning streak to 7 games

Pittsburgh 3 – New York 1

Marc Andre Fleury made 25 saves and Sidney Crosby extended his points streak to 13 games, and the Pittsburgh Penguins pushed their winning streak to seven games, defeating the New York Rangers 3-1 on Monday night.

Max Talbot (5), Kris Letang (5), and Chris Conner (2) all scored for Pittsburgh in the win. Marian Gaborik (5) scored for New York in the loss.

The Penguins are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games and haven’t loss in regulation since their third period collapse against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 10, a 7-4 defeat after leading 4-2 in the third period.

Talbot scored a 5:10 into the game, beating Henrik Lundqvist blocker side after forcing a Ruslan Fedotenko turnover for his 5th goal of the season. Letang and Conner added second period goals just 1:15 apart, mid-way through the second.

Sidney Crosby assisted on Letang’s second period tally at the 12:06 mark, with a great feed in front that proved to be the game winner.

Crosby’s assist was his 41st point of the season and leads Steven Stamkos by 2 points in the NHL points lead. Crosby has 26 points during his 13 game points streak and has collected 18 points in his last 8 games. Crosby’s point streak is the longest streak in the NHL this season.

Tonight, he had 19:53 of ice time and was 74% in the face-off circle, winning 14 of 19 draws.

Kris Letang’s breakout season offensively continues, as he netted his 5th goal of the season, moving ahead of Evgeni Malkin for second on the team in points with 23. Letang has 5 goals and 18 assists in 26 games played.

He was a plus-1 in the game, pushing his team leading plus/minus rating to Plus-12.

Pascal Dupuis had 2 assists and continues to play a strong all around game.

Pittsburgh’s No. 1 ranked PK unit was 3-for-3 on the PK and have now killed off 32 straight penalties.

Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 27-26 in the game and outhit New York 47-39. Pittsburgh controlled play in the second period, outshooting New York 14-6 in the period.

The Penguins improved to 16-8-2, 34 pts on the season.

Notes: Marc Andre Fleury improved to 9-6-1 on the season with the win….Brooks Orpik led the Penguins with 6 hits….

Evgeni Malkin who was pointless led the Penguins with 6 shots on goal. Malkin leads the NHL in shots….Forward Arron Asham was scratched due to an illness. Also scratched was Mike Comrie (lower body) and Ben Lovejoy (healthy).