Penguins freeze up Red Wings in 4-1 win

Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his first period goal against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena on January 13, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Pittsburgh Penguins had their best day to end an early Saturday on the ice at PPG Paints Arena. They got well ahead on the score that frustrated the Red Wings to submission in a 4-1 result that gave the Penguins a three game winning streak. Evgeny Malkin had two goals for Pittsburgh that kept their hold of Detroit at home.

The Red Wings got back to work after a five-day break to go into Pittsburgh and attempt to get another win against them. They handled them at home nearly a week ago in what became a 4-1 victory for Detroit. Despite losing Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team looked to get their fifth in in the last six. Jimmy Howard got the spot in net after a well-deserved break for himself looking to get back on the track of success that he carried. Despite having dealt with an injury during that time, he would take on the Penguins and battle against second string starter Tristan Jarry who wanted to end his losing streak between the pipes.

Malkin helped out things to start the game with help from teammate Carl Hagelin who went after a rebound near Howard. His backhanded pass got to center where Malkin one-timed the shot scoring his 18^th of the season. The big Russian forward has nine goals and 19 points in the last 15 games against Detroit in his career. The Red Wings gained a chance to even the score but they faced plenty of coverage from the Penguins who briskly killed off the penalty.

They weren’t able to do it twice as the Red Wings were destined to get one behind the net during their second chance on the man advantage. Good work from Tomas Tatar allowed a pass to the front of Jarry get in reach of Justin Abdelkader who took a hook with the stick and got the puck behind the Penguins netminder for his eighth on the year.

The Penguins got the lead back coming hard at the Red Wings with their power play chance that didn’t take long to implement. A rush with the big three ended with captain Sidney Crosby delivering a great pass to teammate Phil Kessel for his 19^th and Crosby’s assist. They held up their end of staying out front in the first period which came to a close with them killing off a majority of Detroit’s fourth power play. They outshot Detroit 12-7 with the consistency of their goal scoring working out.

They made it 3-1 at 2:08 into the second period with Kessel passing the puck from the boards to Malkin who wristed the shot at center scoring his second of the afternoon. With the two-goal buffer to their credit, it clearly saw the Red Wings struggle as they went down a man two minutes later with Abdelkader getting called for interference. They were fortunate to kill it off but getting back on the puck and push ahead of Pittsburgh remained difficult.

The Penguins handed them two chances to recover the ground but their PK unit was too strong to make things happen offensively. To make matters worse, Detroit was producing chances for the Penguins to get further away on the scoreboard with another penalty in the late stages of the second. They stopped them for a second time but the margin stood as the period came to a close. They were outshot once again 16-9 but more pucks needed to be shot by the Red Wings who were 1-6 on the man advantage.

The Penguins were well aware of their opponent’s struggles and continued on their advance to securing the win. It got better 3:31 into the period with the Penguins captain notching his 16 on a second opportunity where he centered himself to rifle one through Howard for a 4-1 lead. It was the team’s second power play goal that held them high with a lot of time on the clock.

They had another one during the second half of the period but went to 4 on 4 with Detroit just a minute later. The change didn’t affect the pace that Pittsburgh had going for themselves despite being outshot by the Red Wings. Although the gap was too big for them to recover from, Detroit produced shots on goal but they were finding plenty of them blocked by the Penguins defense who helped out Jarry.

It was Pittsburgh’s response that locked Detroit out and kept the pressure on Howard until the final horn sounded giving their Eastern Conference opponent’s a big hit on the day. They outshot the Red Wings 36-30 in what finished as a desperate attempt that didn’t cut it. Howard earned his first loss in over a week stopping 32 on the day for a .889 save percentage. Jarry was fortunate to have the best support possible getting a win with 29 saves and a .967 save percentage for his first win since Jan. 5.

While they prepare to finish up things at home, Detroit won’t get another break as they head to Chicago Sunday to face the Blackhawks in a second straight matinee.