St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen (left) makes a save against Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Sergei Plotnikov during the second period of their NHL game at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (USA TODAY Sports)
By Jonathan Bombulie/The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (TNS)
Evgeni Malkin scored one of the top highlight-reel goals of the year Wednesday night by finishing a two-on-one with Phil Kessel in overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues.
At even strength, his line generated three scoring chances in the game according to war-on-ice.com.
Sidney Crosby, meanwhile, turned in his strongest performance of the season, throwing off the shackles of a frustrating first 20 games and recording his first two-goal game since February.
At even strength, his line generated seven scoring chances.
Seven is an impressive total, but it was only good enough to share the distinction of being the most dangerous line on the team on this night.
The fourth line -- Sergei Plotnikov, Matt Cullen and Eric Fehr -- also combined for seven scoring chances in the game.
“They put (the Blues) back on their heels throughout the game,” Crosby said. “When you’re jumping on the ice, and they’ve been able to really hem them in and make them tired, we’re jumping on fresh and able to create a lot.
“You could see it create a lot of momentum for us throughout the game.”
St. Louis has one of the biggest defense corps in the league with a handful of players around the 6-foot-4, 215-pound mark. With the 6-4, 212-pound Fehr and 6-2, 202-pound Plotnikov on the wings, the fourth line met that challenge head-on with a hard, physical style.
“They really helped give us a lot of momentum by keeping the puck in the zone and wearing down some of their defensemen,” coach Mike Johnston said.
Cullen, 39, helped the Penguins keep possession of the puck by winning all eight faceoffs he took. He and the 30-year-old Fehr give the line a crafty veteran feel.
“It seems like we’re on the same page, kind of complementary styles of hockey,” Cullen said. “Eric and I have some pretty good chemistry.”
Plotnikov, on the other hand, is the wild card. A 25-year-old rookie fresh out of Russia’s KHL, he still is finding his footing on the North American ice and looking for his first NHL goal. Because he’s exceptionally strong on his skates and very good at protecting the puck down low, some are predicting big things from him in the near future.
“He’s really starting to take off for us,” Johnston said. “That’s really key to give us that depth up front.”
Johnston made good use of that forward depth against St. Louis. NHL coaches often will shorten their bench in the third period of a close game, but Johnston didn’t on this occasion. He had the fourth line on the ice regularly late in the game, including the last shift of regulation.
“I didn’t care who they played against,” Johnston said. “They played against (Paul) Stastny if they had to, and they played good minutes against that line.”
Good enough minutes to propel the Penguins to one of their most impressive victories of the season.
“It’s a good confidence boost for us,” Cullen said. “When we play the right way and play a hard, solid 60 minutes, those are the results we can get against top teams. We want to be there at the end of the year, and if we’re going to be successful down the stretch this season, we’re going to need to beat teams like that. It was a good step for us.”
