Flames defeat Penguins to end four-game losing streak

PITTSBURGH -- The Calgary Flames ended their season-long four-game losing streak with a 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

Derek Ryan had three assists, and Mike Smith made 34 saves for the Flames (35-16-7), who were 0-2-2 in their previous four games. They are tied with the San Jose Sharks for first in the Western Conference.
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"Obviously, there's stuff you still want to clean up, but everything's moving back to where it was when we were buzzing," Smith said. "[Pittsburgh is] a good team there. We felt good coming into this game after [a 3-2 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday], even though we didn't get two points. We knew we wanted to finish this road trip off on a right note here and get two points tonight."

Evgeni Malkin scored two power-play goals in the third period and had an assist in his return from a one-game suspension for Pittsburgh (30-21-7), which trails the Carolina Hurricanes by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"I think we fought hard," Malkin said. "Just [need] a little bit better play 5-on-5. The power play worked tonight. ... I think we played, in the third period, really good. We try to score in the last minute, but I think we showed we play hard. It's not everything perfect. A couple mistakes, but I think we're fine."
Matt Murray made 19 saves on 24 shots for the Penguins before being pulled to start the third period. Casey DeSmith made seven saves in relief.
Andrew Mangiapane gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the first period. Oliver Kylington took a slap shot that hit Nick Bjugstad's stick and went past Kris Letang before going off Mangiapane.

Jake Guentzel tied it 1-1 by deflecting a shot from Justin Schultz for his 28th goal at 17:41 of the first.
Michael Frolik and Austin Czarnik scored 1:33 apart to put the Flames ahead 3-1 at 3:12 of the second period. Frolik gave them a 2-1 lead at 1:39 with a backhand shot off a rebound; Czarnik made it 3-1 at 3:12 on a wrist shot blocker side from the left face-off circle.
Sidney Crosby cut it to 3-2 with a power-play goal from a sharp angle inside the right post at 6:52 of the second. Phil Kessel became the 17th United States-born player to reach 800 NHL points with the secondary assist on Crosby's goal.
Travis Hamonic extended the lead to 4-2 on a wrist shot that went in off Guentzel's stick at 16:02 of the second. Sam Bennett made it 5-2 on the power play with 1:52 remaining in the second.

"The last couple games in the past haven't been where we want to be," Bennett said. "We had a good pushback tonight. That's a huge two points for us. ... I don't think it's a sigh of relief. No one in this locker room is worried at all. We're still in first place in the West, and we're still as confident as ever. So it's just good to get back on track."
Malkin cut it to 5-3 at 5:42 of the third period with his first goal since Jan. 11, when he scored against the Anaheim Ducks. Malkin had missed six of Pittsburgh's previous seven games, including five with an upper-body injury from Feb. 1-9 and a sixth because of his suspension for high-sticking Philadelphia Flyers forward Michael Raffl in a 4-1 win Monday. He made it 5-4 with 5:19 remaining.

They said it

"We made it a little harder than we would've liked by putting them on the power play. They made some good plays on the power play. ... They made us pay for our penalties, for sure." -- Flames coach Bill Peters
"I just thought [the power play's] execution was really good. I thought after we got the first power-play goal, I think they got a lot of confidence off of that. You could see it with the next power plays that we got. They had much more composure with the puck. They were the power play that we always expect from them." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Need to know

Flames forward James Neal did not play because of a lower-body injury sustained against the Panthers on Thursday. ... Czarnik played for the first time since Jan. 16 and scored his first goal since Dec. 4. ... Schultz played after being sidelined 53 games because of a fractured left leg. He had one assist, one hit and one blocked shot in 17:12. ... Pittsburgh's power play was 3-for-4. It had not scored on eight straight chances through its previous five games. ... Malkin hadn't scored twice in a game since Oct. 27 against the Vancouver Canucks.

What's next

Flames:Host the Arizona Coyotes on Monday (4 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNW, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the New York Rangers on Sunday (12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS)