Malkin gives Penguins much-needed boost

He had two goals and two assists to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Tuesday night at Consol Energy Center.

Minnesota came back from a 4-1 deficit and closed to within a goal during a five-on-three power play at 2:24 of the third period when Koivu scored on a one-timer from between the hash marks with left winger Thomas Vanek providing a screen.

David Perron and Beau Bennett scored first period goals, while the Wild got one from Mikael Granlund to send the teams to the first intermission 2-1. The 29-year-old showed signs of frustration after Saturday’s 4-0 loss to New Jersey, but it’s nice to see him bounce back like this.

Letang, who was expected to contend for the Norris Trophy, is the Penguins’ No. 3 scorer, with one goal and nine assists in 18 games, but is tied with Ian Cole for the worst plus-minus rating on the team, minus-11. He scored twice in the period and finished the night with four points, a factor on every Pittsburgh goal. His first goal was a bomb of a slap shot from the top of the right circle that increased the Pens’ lead to 3-1 on a crucial power play halfway through the second. “I play every game, but sometimes on the first shift you shoot and score, [and] it’s a little bit easy”, he said.

Evgeni Malkin’s power-play goal was the 100th of his career.

Malkin’s score took a few of the sting out of seeing Maatta leave the ice with the help from trainers after getting drilled from behind by Minnesota’s Nino Niederreiter midway through the second period. Minnesota challenged the play, looking for an interference call on Patric Hornqvist, who was in front of the net, but the goal stood. “I pushed him and then I went for a change”, Niederreiter said”. We know what to expect from each guy and what each guy has to bring.

You are exclusively responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. “Imagine [what it will be] when we’re going to play the right way”.

Instead of continuing to roll even while playing without star forward Zach Parise, the Wild turned in a sloppier-than-usual performance to lose in regulation for the first time since Parise was injured five games ago.

“I’m not surprised at all”, Crosby said of Malkin’s response.

“They came out hard”, Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said.