CALGARY — Evgeni Malkin scored his 400th career goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
The Russian joined Mario Lemieux (690), Sidney Crosby (451) and Jaromir Jagr (439) as the only players in franchise history to score 400-plus goals.
Malkin scored Pittsburgh’s first empty-net goal and Kris Letang scored the second for Pittsburgh (20-10-4).
Bryan Rust and John Marino also scored for the Penguins in a third straight win to open a three-game swing through Alberta and B.C.
Johnny Gaudreau countered for the Flames (18-14-4), who have lost back-to-back games following a seven-win streak.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry made 33 saves for his fifth win in six starts for Pittsburgh.
Calgary counterpart Cam Talbot stopped 29 shots in the loss in his ninth start this season (3-6-0).
Malkin returned to Pittsburgh’s lineup after sitting out a pair of games with illness.
The Pens have been minus captain Crosby for 17 games since his Nov. 14 surgery on a core muscle injury. Pittsburgh is 10-4-3 without him this season.
Forward Sam Bennett was back on the bench for the Flames after 13 games sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Trailing 1-0 and outshot 17-6 after the first period, the Penguins struck twice within two minutes starting at 12:13.
Jarry denied Calgary winger Milan Lucic on a two-man breakaway with teammate Tobias Rieder late in the second period to preserve Pittsburgh’s lead.
Rust circled out from behind Calgary’s net and threaded a shot through multiple legs that Talbot couldn’t get enough of his pads on at 13:35.
Marino pulled the visitors even with a power-play goal. The defender wired a wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle over Talbot.
Gaudreau bumped Joseph Blandisi off the puck in the defensive zone in the first period to skate the puck up ice.
The winger dished to Mikael Backlund inside the blue-line and headed to the net to put a pass from Rieder over Jarry’s pad at 16:05.
The Flames are 7-2-0 since Geoff Ward’s promotion from assistant to interim head coach.
Bill Peters resigned in November following accusations he directed racial slurs at a Nigerian-born player in the minor leagues a decade ago.
Calgary is at home to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. The Penguins continue their swing through Western Canada taking on the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.
Notes: Pittsburgh improved to 2-0 against the Flames this season after a 3-2 OT win at home Nov. 25 . . . Atlanta Braves pitcher and Calgary-native Mike Soroka attended the game.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2019.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press