BOSTON - Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves and Evgeni Malkin had a power-play goal to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to their ninth win in 10 games Saturday, 2-1 over the Boston Bruins.
Matt Cooke had the other goal for the Penguins, who rebounded from a 1-0 loss at Toronto on Wednesday that ended a season-high eight-game winning streak.
Joe Corvo scored the only goal for the Bruins, who got to 26 saves from Tim Thomas. Boston hadn't lost consecutive games since early December and two in a row at home since Oct. 22nd and 27th.
Boston was blanked by Carolina 3-0 on Thursday. The Bruins have lost six of 10.
Fleury was back in net after getting the night off in Wednesday's loss. Before that, he played in 23 straight.
The Penguins grabbed a 1-0 lead on Malkin's power play goal with nine seconds left in the opening period. James Neal fired a shot from the point, and Chris Kunitz, positioned in front, jammed at the rebound before it slid over to Malkin, who fired it past Thomas.
The Malkin-Neal-Kunitz line has been carrying the Penguins for nearly two months, scoring 35 of the team's 67 goals.
Cooke scored at 1:53 into the third when Thomas attempted to clear the rebound but mishandled the puck in the crease. Cooke was booed briefly — like he nearly always is by the TD Garden crowd.
Cooke's hit on Marc Savard in March 2010 sidelined the centre with a concussion. Savard missed most of last season and has been out all this year with post-concussion symptoms.
Boston cut it to 2-1 on Corvo's goal 6:45 into the third, his first goal since Dec. 10 and just his third of the season. He fired a shot from the point that Fleury didn't appear to see, snapping the Bruins' scoreless stretch at 119 minutes, 36 seconds.
After Corvo's goal, the Bruins controlled play but had limited chances. Tyler Seguin did split the defencemen and get a short wrist shot on Fleury with 2 minutes left.
The Bruins had a four-minute power play after Pascal Dupuis' high-stick cut Brad Marchand in the second period. Boston was limited to five shots on goal, with its best chance coming when Seguin sent a cross-ice pass to Corvo. But Fleury slid across to make the save.
Marchand also had a decent bid earlier in the period on a backhander from in close.
Neither team had much offence in the opening period, with the Bruins owning a 10-6 shot advantage — though many were low quality scoring chances.
NOTES: Pittsburgh C Sidney Crosby, out since early December, was with the team and skated in the morning. ... F Cal O'Reilly, claimed off waivers from Phoenix on Wednesday, made his Penguins debut. ... Bruins F Nathan Horton missed his fourth straight with a mild concussion. ... Bruins LW Daniel Paille went flying through the air and his stick went as well after a mid-ice collision with Pittsburgh D Brooks Orpik. ... The Bruins play eight of their next 10 on the road.
© The Canadian Press, 2012