The Pittsburgh Penguins won their sixth straight game on Monday night, defeating the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 in an evenly matched contest at Consol Energy Center. The Penguins got two first period goals and then rode the brilliance Marc-Andre Fleury to improve to 39-21-5 on the season. The Coyotes fired 37 shots at Fleury, breaking through only once at the start of the third period. Ray Whitney, who's been a Penguins killer all his career, charged to the front of the net and took a centering pass to convert the Coyotes' only chance.
Playing against his former team, Zbynek Michalek scored his second goal of the season mid-way through the first to give the Pens the 1-0 lead. It was his first goal in 38 games - a beautiful low wrister that was set up on pass dropped back by Jordan Staal as he skated down the right wing. Chris Kunitz would score just three minutes later, taking a feed from Evgeni Malkin who put in great work in the neutral zone to control it and pass it up. Kunitz then beat the red-hot Mike Smith for the two-goal lead. That was all Fleury and the Pens would need for their sixth straight.
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