Penguins 4, Red Wings 3 (shootout)

Some news and notes, facts and quotes from the Penguins’ 4-3 shootout victory over Detroit at Consol Energy Center Wednesday night:

*** Forward Jussi Jokinen scored the shootout-deciding goal for the second game in a row. This time, he lost control of the puck, only to see it hit the stick of goalie Jonas Gustavsson and tumble through the air and into the net. “I haven’t seen that before,” said Jokinen, who had failed to convert on his first six shootout attempts this season. “I guess I’ve been a little bit unlucky this year for the shootout,” he said. “I’ve hit a couple of posts, and goalies have made good saves. So maybe I was a little bit due for good luck.”

*** Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made what might have been the save of the season during Round 1 of the shootout, flopping onto his back and extending his left arm to prevent Daniel Alfredsson’s shot from making it across the goal line. “It’s the first time in a game I’ve made that save,” Fleury said.

**** Defenseman Kris Letang, playing for the first time after sitting out 26 games while recovering from a stroke, Letang logged 22 minutes, 30 seconds of ice time and was credited with an assist, two shots, one hit, three blocked shots and two giveaways. “I had a lot of fun,” he said. “It was not perfect, structure-wise, for me, but I’m just happy to be on the ice. I was just glad to play.”

*** The victory was the Penguins’ 100th in the regular season at Consol Energy Center.

*** The point it earned by taking the game to overtime put Detroit into the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season. The Red Wings did, however, slip into eighth place in the Eastern Conference because of Columbus’ 3-1 victory in Dallas. If the playoffs began Thursday – which they don’t – the Penguins would be matched against the Blue Jackets.

*** The Penguins won the season series from Detroit, 2-0-1.

*** Center Sidney Crosby, left winger Chris Kunitz and defensemen Brooks Orpik and Olli Maatta, all of whom sat out the Penguins’ 3-2 shootout victory at Colorado Sunday, were back in uniform. The list of players unavailable because of injuries dropped to five forwards – Evgeni Malkin Chris Conner, Joe Vitale, Marcel Goc and Pascal Dupuis.

*** The Penguins have won consecutive games in shootouts for the first time since Jan. 24-31, 2012.

*** James Neal scored two goals in the second period, both during power plays, to run his total for the season to 26. It’s the third time he’s recorded 25 or more. “James was playing with speed and shooting the puck,” Jokinen said. “When he does those two things, he’s a tough player to stop.”

*** The Penguins have 107 points, the third-highest total in team history.

*** Crosby’s assist on Neal’s first goal was his league-leading 103rd point of the season.

*** The Penguins’ penalty-killers were perfect for the fourth game in a row. They are 12-for-12 during that span.

*** Defenseman Paul Martin assisted on both of Neal’s goals, his first two-assist game since the regular-season finale in 2013.

*** Letang, on when he would hope to have his game in synch after his extended layoff: “There are some things I felt good about. I have to get my timing back. Hockey is a lot about timing. Maybe it’s going to take a week. Maybe it’s going to take two weeks.”

*** The Penguins’ 2-for-4 performance on the power play moved them back into the top spot in the NHL, with a conversion rate of 23.7 percent.

*** Fleury has 39 victories, the fourth-highest total in team history.

*** Gustavsson, on Jokinen’s shootout goal: ““It was bad ice or something so he lost the puck. It started rolling for him so I was just going to pretty much touch it because it was the shootout. It took a funny bounce and kind of lobbed over me. If I would play it the same way over 100 times again, I don’t think it would take that angle. I guess it was a lucky break for them.”

*** The Penguins are 7-0-1 the last eight times they’ve scored two or more goals against the Red Wings/

*** Jokinen, on a possible first-round matchup with Detroit: “I think both teams are pretty familiar with each other. There are still some of the same players from when these guys played in the finals {in 2008 and 2009]. They played in the Western Conference a long time, but this year we played three times against them. They have a few of those young guys who are playing really well. They’re a good team. They are in your face all the time. They play that man to man. They are very aggressive all over the ice.”

*** The Penguins are 6-3-1 in their past 10 regular-season games against Detroit.