Penguins Top Flames 4-1, Streak Hits Five Games

CALGARY, Alberta — The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Calgary Flames 4-1 on Wednesday night, extending their points streak to five games and solidifying their position in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak each recorded a goal and an assist, while Yegor Chinakhov and Bryan Rust also scored for Pittsburgh, which improved to 9-2-2 since the Christmas break. Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 18 saves to secure his sixth win in seven starts, allowing just one goal against a Flames team that managed only 19 shots. Calgary's Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots in a losing effort, marking his sixth defeat in seven games.

Malkin opened the scoring at 7:49 of the first period with his 11th goal of the season, a deflection that gave Pittsburgh a lead it never relinquished. Chinakhov extended the advantage to 2-0 in the second period with a sharp wrist shot, capitalizing on a setup from Novak. Calgary pulled within one on a late second-period deflection off Yegor Sharangovich's pants from Zach Whitecloud's point shot with 2.7 seconds remaining. However, Rust restored the two-goal cushion just 50 seconds into the third with a wraparound goal, and Novak added an...