After two periods at Consol Energy Center, the Pittsburgh Penguins trail the Ottawa Senators 4-1. The Pens have outshot the Sens by a 22-13 mark, but Ottawa managed to beat goalie Brent Johnson for three goals on just eight shots. Marc-Andre Fleury has since taken over for the Pens, who are playing without Jordan Staal. James Neal, who was initially expected to be out "weeks," was active after it was revealed that he had only a bruised foot.
Down 4-0, the Penguins finally got on the board mid way through the second period when Evgeni Malkin scored his 17th goal of the season. Malkin beat Sens goalie Craig Anderson on an unassisted play, as Sergei Gonchar tried to play it in the corner and clear it but put it right onto Malkin's stick. Geno took it in and flipped it up and over the right leg of Anderson but immediately paid a price as he was slammed into the post and net. It was a late shot by Gonchar and Malkin was down on the ice momentarily, but did get up and appear to be fine.
One Penguin who did appear to have a more serious injury was Simon Despres, who is out for the game with a lower-body injury.
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