Visitor: St. Louis Blues

Home: Pittsburgh Penguins

Date: October 20, 2009

Scoring:

Team 1 2 3 Final

STL 0 1 0 1

PIT 2 2 1 5

Visitor playmakers:

Paul Kariya

Home playmakers:

Tyler Kennedy, Evgeni Malkin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Letang, Alex Goligoski

Network: Versus

Announcers: John Forslund, Billy Jaffe

Pregame: Yes – Hockey Central

Intermissions: Yes

Postgame: Yes – Hockey Central

Commercials: Yes

Grade: 9.5

Notes: Evgeni Malkin had a goal, Sidney Crosby added an assist, and 13 of Pittsburgh's 18 skaters got onto the score sheet in a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Matt Cooke had a goal and an assist, Kris Letang had two assists, and Tyler Kennedy, Evgeni Malkin, Ruslan Fedotenko and Alex Goligoski had goals as the Penguins won their sixth straight and pushed their record to an NHL-best 8-1.

Paul Kariya scored for the Blues, 1-3-1 in their past five games. They were dominated three days after a 5-0 win at Anaheim.

The Penguins took a season-high 43 shots and controlled play for much of the game against the Blues, but it might have come at a price. Veteran all-star defenseman Sergei Gonchar didn't play over the final 27 minutes because of an undisclosed injury.

Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves to improve to 8-0, setting a career high for most consecutive victories. He didn't have much to do during the first period, when the Penguins held a 20-3 shots advantage and took a 2-0 lead.

The Penguins took the first 10 shots in the opening 10:39 and grabbed a lead they would not relinquish at 11:19. Kennedy skated in from the left-wing boards and took a slap shot from high in the left circle that beat Mason. It was Kennedy's team-high fifth goal. Only 69 seconds later, Malkin scored during a power play on his fourth shot attempt of the sequence. His last attempt came from the slot as Bill Guerin screened Mason. Playing in his 300th consecutive game (including playoffs), Malkin tied his career high with 12 shots. The goal was his fourth of the season.

The Penguins scored two more goals in quick succession starting 7:29 into the second period. Fedotenko made it 3-0 with a power-play tally. Cooke scored 36 seconds later, deflecting in a shot from Letang.

Kariya broke up Fleury's shutout bid with 7:16 left in the second when he deflected Erik Johnson's wrist shot from the left point after a scrum in front. It was his team-high fourth goal.

Goligoski made it 5-1 at 9:44 of the third when he took a feed from Crosby and scored his second of the season. During their quick start to the season, Malkin and Crosby have combined for eight of the team's 33 goals and 11 of their 53 assists.

NOTES: Crosby's point was his 405th with the Penguins, moving him into sole possession of 10th place on the club's career list at age 22. ... Goligoski has five points and is a plus-9 in his past six games. ... St. Louis allowed season highs in shots for a game and period, and tied a season low for shots in a game (23).

Running time: 2:43 (2 discs)