Pens beat Winnipeg 8-5

Today was a big day at the Consol Energy Center.  It was the first time in since 1996 that the Winnipeg Jets played in Pittsburgh.  It was also Evegeni Malkin's 400th NHL game. On that note, Malkin's 485 points in those 400 games make him the highest scoring European player in 400 games in history, beating Jaromir Jagr by 12 points.  About the game today, it was an exciting game for the fans to see, but not so much for the coaches.  Dan Bylsma stated that both coaches would likely "burn the game tape."  And Jets coach Claude Noel said that his players were "disrespectful of each other" for their poor play in the game.  Today's win made the Penguins 17-0-2 this season when leading after two periods, and gave the Penguins a 31-19-5 record, good for 67 points, and 5th place in the Eastern Conference, two behind Philadelphia and one ahead of New Jersey.  The game started ominously for the Penguins with the Jets' Wellwood and Burmistov staking the Jets to a 2-0 in the first 8 minutes of the first period. But at 12:11 of the period Dustin Jeffrey (3) got the Penguins off and running on a string of 4 unanswered goals when be beat Pavelec off a great play from Staal (7) and Letang (19).   2-1 Winnipeg.  Then, at 16:42, James Neal scored his 29th goal of the season off the faceoff when we blasted a wicked wrister by Pavelec, with the only assist going to Evgeni Malkin (34).  The period ended in a 2-2.  Then at 3:12 of the second period, unsung hero Chris Kunitz scored his 15th of the season on the power play, assisted by Malkin (35) and Fleury, who collected his 10th career assist on the play!  The Pens took the lead at 3-2.  Then at 9:53 of the period, Kris Letang scored his 6th goal of the season, assisted by Malkin (36), and Chris Kunitz (20) giving the Penguins a 4-2 lead.  Stapleton got the Jets back to within one goal at 4-3, before Evgeni Malkin turned Pavelec inside out to score his 30th goal of the year, assisted by Chris Kunitz (21) and Real Deal (23) to restore a two goal lead at 5-3.  The second period ended that way.  At 4:35 of the third Big Buff put the Jets back to within one goal at 5-4.  But 19 seconds later Richard Park deflected an Orpik shot past Pavelec for his 5th goal of the season with assists going to Orpik (9), and Craig Adams (6), putting the Penguins up 6-4.  Then at the 7:48 mark Jordan Staal broke in on Pavelec off of a great feed from Dupuis and snapped a wrister into the net for his 16th goal of the season to restore a 3 goal bulge at 7-4.  He was assisted on the goal by Dupuis (19) and Cooke (11).  Just when you thought the back breaker had been delivered, Bryan Little got the Jets back to within 2 at 10:02 making it 7-5 Pens.  Then at 17:16 Kris Letang scored his 7th goal of the year on the power play, assisted by Malkin (37) and Kunitz (14).  You could see the value of Kunitz on this play, as he screened Pavelec on the original shot, then fought to keep the rebound alive, and eventually got the puck over to Letang, who buried it.  This goal would close out the scoring in a wild 8-5 Penguins victory.  Some notes from the game.  With Geno hitting the 30 goal mark today, and James Neal sitting at 29 goals, they may be the first pair of 30 goal scorers on the same line for Pittsburgh since the 2000-2001 season, when Lemieux and Jagr did it along with Kovalev and Robert Lang.  The 5 point outburst was the 6th five point game of Malkin's career, and the 3rd of THIS SEASON!  The Penguins lethal top line combined for 11 points tonight, with Geno getting 1G and 4 assists, Neal getting a goal and an assist, and KOON chipping in 1 goal and 3 assists!  It was great to see Kunitz have a big night on the score sheet as he such a vital part of that top line, often doing the dirty work that has resulted in a feast for both Malkin and Neal.  Kris Letang also had 2 goals and an assist, marking his first multi-goal game since 2/6/2009.  Max Pacioretty may have cost Tanger a shot at the Norris Trophy as Letang is just a beast in all three zones night in and night out.  He will win the Norris one day, I am sure of it.  After a 15 game absence Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist tonight, and his presence cannot be overstated.  Staal gives the Penguins two legitimate centers and takes some of the heat and matchup pressure off of that top unit. Also of note, Malkin passed up Kevin Stevens for eighth all time in assists on the Penguins with 296 career assists.  Richard Park's goal was the 100th of his career, congratulations Richard!  The Penguins power play was 2 for 3 tonight, and the league's number one PK on home ice at 89.2% killed the only penalty it had to this afternoon.  Seven different Penguins scored goals this afternoon.  The pairing of Engelland and Niskanen struggled a bit tonight, and the pairing of Martin and Michalek made every shift they took on the ice an adventure.  Brooks Orpik was out of position a lot tonight, and it hurt the Pens on a couple of occasions.  The only defenseman who played a good game for the Penguins tonight was Letang.  The case was being made for Shero to pull the trigger on a deal to bring in Hal Gill or Brian Allen from Carolina to bolster a porous defense.  It was painful to watch the play on the blue line for the Pens tonight.  Not much time to worry about it as the Penguins play Tampa tomorrow night at home.  It would be great to take home two more points to keep the pressure on the Flyers.  Go Pens!