Trending: Penguins get best of Wings after bye

PITTSBURGH -- It's never easy to win in Pittsburgh and especially not after a five-day bye.
The Penguins were also coming off their bye but seemed more energized at the start, finishing with a 4-1 victory over the Red Wings Saturday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena.

The loss snapped the Wings' three-game win streak over the Penguins.
The Wings fell to 17-18-7 overall and 7-11-1 on the road while the Penguins improved to 23-19-3 overall and 14-7-1 at home.
Evgeni Malkin (two), Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins while Justin Abdelkader had the lone goal for the Wings.
1. Justin Abdelkader: Last year was not the year that Abdelkader wanted, both team-wise and personally. Abdelkader dealt with a knee injury and was not quite the same after he returned. During the Wings' third power play in the first period against the Penguins, Abdelkader drove to the net and backhanded a rebound of Tomas Tatar's shot past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry at 13:36. It was the first power-play goal the Penguins had allowed in eight games and snapped a 19-for-19 stretch for their penalty kill. The goal was Abdelkader's eighth in 41 games, one more than he had in 64 games last season. The team announced that Abdelkader had suffered a lower-body injury and would not return to the game. The team also lost Darren Helm to a lower-body injury in the third period and he did not return.
Quotable: "I can't tell you what happened, I just know Justin and Helmer both left the game and I don't expect them to be available tomorrow. I don't have lots of information on it. I think it's a lower-body injury. I knew as soon as we got done here, we made some initial contact to look for somebody from GR. Most likely one player from Grand Rapids. I don't know who yet but we started the process." - Wings coach Jeff Blashill
2. Jimmy Howard: Howard missed the last game before the break due to knee stiffness but pronounced himself ready to go after the team practiced in Pittsburgh late Friday afternoon. Howard was tested early and often. Malkin beat him twice, at 3:01 of the first on a nice pass from former Michigan forward Carl Hagelin, and then again at 2:08 of the second period on a great pass from Kessel. Kessel scored on the power play at 16:35 of the first when Crosby found him driving to the right side of the net and he tipped it past Howard. Howard stoned Kessel on a breakaway at 3:28 of the second. Howard finished with 32 saves.
Quotable: "Definitely I thought I was rusty coming off the break. My body and head felt right, it was just following the puck with the eyes. Once you get people in front of your, it was a little more difficult to follow the puck." - Howard
Quotable II: "I thought he was solid, it certainly wasn't a game where you fault him by any stretch. We need elite goaltending to win and there's times where Jimmy's been elite but I thought he was solid. We got to be better than we were." - Blashill
3. Penguins' big guns: When Pittsburgh's top offensive players are going, it's going to be a rough day for the opposition. Malkin led the way with two goals and two assists, giving him 19 goals and 27 assists in 41 games. Malkin now has 10 goals and 12 assists in 15 games against the Wings. Kessel had a goal and two assists, giving him 19 goals and 31 assists in 45 games. Kessel now has 11 goals and 14 assists in 23 games against the Wings. Crosby had a goal and an assist for 16 goals and 29 assists in 45 games. Crosby has eight goals and 10 assists in 20 games against the Wings. Those three players were hot before the bye, accounting for 19 points in the four games before the bye.
Quotable: "If you look at it, their best players were better than our best players tonight. If you get down to it, they scored, they took card of business on the power play and we didn't." - Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg
Quotable II: "Certainly, credit has to go to those three guys. I was asked about containing them in our building and the difference, part of it, was them. When those three are playing like that, they're a reason why they're a back to back Stanley Cup team. Obviously, with (Justin) Schultz and (Kris) Letang back in the lineup, it's a little bit different lineup, but even with that said, I think territorial through most of the first, we probably would have had more time in their zone if you include power plays because of the power plays we drew. You got to shoot the puck to have success." - Blashill