LOS ANGELES: Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist and Tomas Vokoun recorded his third straight win since replacing Marc-Andre Fleury as Pittsburgh beat Ottawa 4-1 in the opener of their second-round series.
Russian forward Malkin, who had a point in all six games of the Penguins’ first-round series win over the New York Islanders, pushed his playoff point total to 13 in seven games so far.
Backup Vokoun, of the Czech Republic, took over from starting goaltender Fleury for game five against New York.
He finished with 35 stops on Tuesday in front of a crowd of 18,621 at the Consol Energy Center arena.
“This game showed we can play better in the defensive zone,” Malkin said. Canadian Chris Kunitz also notched a goal and an assist, and Paul Martin and Pascal Dupuis scored singles for the Penguins, who finished two-for-four on the power play and also had a short-handed goal.
Colin Greening scored the only goal for Ottawa, who were coming off an physical and emotionally-draining five-game series victory over rival Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
Pittsburgh’s Martin and Senators’ Greening traded goals in the first few minutes of the opening period to make it 1-1.
But it was all Pittsburgh from there, as the Penguins scored three unanswered goals, starting with Malkin’s tally at 12:15 of the first.
Pittsburgh’s power play struck again late in the second when Kunitz scored from in close, giving the Penguins a 3-1 lead that they would take into the start of the third.
Canadian forward Dupuis faked a pass to Matt Cooke on a two-on-one break before beating Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson to give the Penguins a three-goal lead. AFP
