Even though captain Sidney Crosby was missing from the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup the Penguins extinguished the Calgary Flames with a 3-1 win on Friday night.
“When your best player is not playing, it’s always tough, but you have to rely on other guys to get the job done, and I think that what we just did tonight” said Penguins defenseman Kris Letang.
Penguins forward Blake Comeau scored the first goal of the night on a snapshot 48 seconds into the first period. He came in on a two-on-one with Jayson Megna but took the shot himself and beat Flames goaltender Jonas Hiller. Evgeni Malkin and Robert Bortuzzo assisted on the goal.
Four minutes later, with Megna and Calgary’s T.J. Brodie in the box serving roughing minors, Kris Letang tipped in a Simon Despres shot from the point to give the Pens a 2-1 lead. Nick Spaling recorded the other assist.
Calgary drew to within one when rookie forward Johnny Gaudreau slammed home a rebound at 12:15 of the first. Markus Granlund and Jiri Hulder assisted on the play.
In the third period, Rob Klinkhammer, recently acquired from Arizona, scored his first goal as a Penguin and fourth of the season. It was assisted by Steve Downie and Evgeni Malkin and made the score 3-1 which the Penguins would hold on to for the win. Malkin found himself with two assists in the game.
There was a total of ten power plays in the game. Both teams earned a total of five each, but neither team was able to score with the man advantage.
“It was a pretty tight game, a lot of penalties, not much flow to it,” said Penguins forward Brandon Sutter. “It was pretty chopped up with all the penalty kills and power plays, kind of a different game but we did pretty well and suck with it”
Crosby missed practice on Thursday with an illness, but practiced and was preparing to play for tonight’s game. Crosby appeared to have a swollen neck and jaw when he spoke with reporters Friday morning. When coach Mike Johnston was asked about Crosby missing Friday’s game he said, “We are just being cautious with (Crosby). That’s why he didn’t play.”
Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist made their returns from injuries. Letting had a goal on two shots and was a plus-1 in 27:16 of ice time. Hornqvist took four shots in 18:40 of ice time. Fourth-line winger Zach Sill left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. He could miss a couple of weeks. Flames defenseman Ladislav Smid was also injured in the game, on a hit by Despres.
Marc-Andre Fleury made a total of 26 saves in the game for his 16th win.
“[We] did a great great job at playing our game and not giving them too much,” he said.
The Penguins will face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night in Columbus.
