Letang has 2 points, Penguins hold off Panthers for 7th win in row

Kris Letang had a goal and an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to seven games with a 4-2 victory against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Thursday.

They were Letang's first points in three games since having a stroke Nov. 28. He led all Pittsburgh skaters with 25:44 of ice time.
"Especially the first game, me and [associate coach Todd Reirden] were talking just to see how I feel," Letang said. "But once you settle into games and practices, your conditioning goes up and I can go back to the minutes I play."

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist before leaving with an injury in the third period, Jake Guentzel scored twice, and Tristan Jarry made 32 saves for the Penguins (18-8-4), who are 12-1-1 in their past 14 games.
Ryan Lomberg and Sam Reinhart scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 35 saves for the Panthers (14-13-4), who have lost four of their past six.
Forward Matthew Tkachuk did not play because of a non-COVID illness. Florida played with 11 forwards and six defensemen.
"Five-on-5, I think they played their butts off, short a guy up front," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "It was a sprint game. There was no way to play that but full-out. I thought we did, 5-on-5, against a pretty good team tonight."
Malkin had a slap shot from Sidney Crosby go in off his right knee on a power play, giving Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead at 8:05 of the third. Malkin was helped off the ice without putting pressure on his leg.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan did not provide an update but said the initial prognosis was positive.
"It's a funny way to score, but a goal is a goal," Sullivan said.
Crosby said he was hopeful Malkin would not miss extended time.
"It was one of those ones, I think got him in the right spot," Crosby said. "He looked like he was in a lot of pain. … I think it got him pretty good, but hopefully, nothing that's going to keep him out. If you are going to get hit, at least get a goal out of it."
Reinhart cut it to 3-2 with a one-timer off a pass from Carter Verhaeghe at 10:13, but Guentzel scored an empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining to make it 4-2.
"Five-on-5, I think we controlled a lot of the play," said Verhaeghe, who missed the previous game with an illness. "We still need to do a better job generating a little more, getting pucks to the net and getting some higher-quality looks."

Lomberg put Florida ahead 1-0 at 5:30 of the first period when he chipped in a rebound at the right post after Eric Staal wrapped a shot around Pittsburgh defenseman Brian Dumoulin.
"They're obviously a really good team. They have some great leadership there," Lomberg said. "So, we knew they were going to push. But at the end of the day, we've got to start getting two points."
Nick Cousins had a chance to extend the lead on a breakaway at 9:12 after blocking a shot from Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. He tried to go backhand through the five-hole, but Jarry made a pad save.
Letang tied it 1-1 with a short-handed goal at 4:17 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot after receiving a backhand pass from Bryan Rust on a 2-on-1.
Guentzel gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead on a power play at 12:42 when a shot from Malkin went in off his right skate.

Pittsburgh has scored at least one power-play goal in seven straight games (37 percent).
"That's a big part of the game nowadays, you have to make sure you're winning special teams," Guentzel said. "I think we did that tonight. Came out with the right result."
NOTES: Guentzel has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. … Malkin has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) during a seven-game point streak. He has 316 multipoint games for the fourth-most in Pittsburgh history, trailing Mario Lemieux (497), Crosby (431) and Jaromir Jagr (320). … Letang has five short-handed goals, surpassing Larry Murphy and Randy Carlyle for the most by a defenseman in Penguins history. … Aaron Ekblad played his 574th NHL game, passing Robert Svehla for the most by a defenseman in Panthers history. … Jarry has won six straight starts and is 10-0-2 in his past 12 games (all starts). It is the longest personal point streak for a Pittsburgh goalie since Marc-Andre Fleury went 11-0-1 from Feb. 21-March 25, 2012.