Coyotes @ Penguins 3/5/12 Michalek!!!! Chant Live

Last night's game marked the sixth victory in a row for Pittsburgh, and their 10th victory on home ice in their last 11 games when they knocked off Phoenix 2-1 in an exciting game, that featured skating, hitting, and fast paced hockey.  Goaltending was the difference in the game, as Fleury stopped 36 of 37 shots, and improved to 16-2-1 over his last 19 starts. Fleury also earned his 35th win of the season, and the games number one star designation.  Fleury has now won at least 35 games in each of the past 4 seasons.  Finally, Fleury is rocking a .970 save percentage in the past five games, stopping 163 of the last 168 shots he has faced!  The Penguins, who hold the second best record in the Eastern Conference are now 39-21-5, and hold a four point lead over the Flyers for the fourth seed in the conference, though the Flyers do have a game in hand.  The game also showcased the much improved play of Zybnek Michalek, who was the game's number two star, he had a goal, three blocked shots, and led the team in ice time at 25:09.   Brian  Strait looked solid in his call up, logging 12:59 TOI and adding a team high 4 blocked shots, and 4 hits.  He also had a great one timer that almost scored in the second period when he blasted a set up from Steve Sullivan that had goaltender Mike Smith handcuffed.  The Penguins gave up a lot of shots, but in fairness were missing both Kris Letang and Deryk Engelland last night.  Also of note, the Penguins did not score on their only power play chance last night, making their power play 0 for 9 in Kris Letang's absence.  Tyler Kennedy made his return to the lineup last night, playing 14:20, and adding 3 shots on goal while playing with Matt Cooke and Joe Vitale.  As for the game, the Penguins got all of their scoring in the first period, starting with a goal by Zybnek Michalek (2) at 11:44 off a nice play by Jordan who had Coyotes defenseman Ekman-Larsson backing in, before dropping a pass to the trailing Michalek who put the puck behind Smith.  The assist was Staal's 13th, and extended his assist streak to 5 games, tying a career high set in 2009.  The Penguins were up 1-0.  Then at 14:45 of the first, Chris Kunitz scored his 19th goal of the season, assisted by Evgeni Malkin (43) and Paul Martin (21).  The assist gave Geno 35 points in his last 19 HOME games, averaging 1.84 points per game at home, and giving him 81 points on the year, one ahead of Steven Stamkos.  The 2-0 score held up until Ray Whitney scored at 1:27 of the third period, but neither team tickled the twine after that, and the Penguins skate away with the victory.  This morning, Sidney Crosby was cleared for contact, and Kris Letang completed a light workout off the ice, both bits of good news for Pittsburgh!  Wednesday evening brings the Toronto Maple Leafs and new head coach Randy Carlyle. GO PENS!