Penguins 4, Blues 3 (overtime)

A quick look at the Penguins’ 4-3 victory against St. Louis at Consol Energy Center Wednesday night:

*** Evgeni Malkin threw a backhander past St. Louis goalie Jake Allen 63 seconds into overtime to give the Penguins their third victory in the past four games. Malkin has a league-leading five game-winners this season.

*** Sidney Crosby, who did not have a goal in his previous 10 games against the Blues, scored the first two for the Penguins. They were the last opponent against which he had not scored. Crosby also tied his career high with nine shots on goal in an outstanding performance. “When Sid’s shooting the puck like that and with the determination he plays with offensively, he’s really hard to handle,” Penguins coach Mike Johnston said.

*** The Penguins got an excellent game from the fourth line of Sergei Plotnikov, Matt Cullen and Eric Fehr. Plotnikov played particularly well, recording four shots on goal and three hits. “I thought that was his best game, for sure,” Cullen said. “He was all over the puck and making things happen.”

*** The Penguins have allowed three or more goals in five consecutive games and seven of the past eight.

*** Pascal Dupuis made Crosby’s first goal possible when he pressured Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson into throwing the puck to Crosby. “He put it on a tee for me there,” Crosby said. “It’s nice to put that one in. I don’t know what would have been going through my head if that didn’t go in.”

*** The Penguins snapped a streak of three consecutive home-ice losses to St. Louis.

*** St. Louis played a typically heavy game, but the Penguins weren’t knocked off their game by the hitting. “They’re a big team, physical,” Crosby said. “They came at us pretty hard and I thought we handled it really well. Our [defense] had to take a lot of hits. Our forwards, too.”

*** The Penguins are 4-0 in overtime this season.

*** Both teams got a power-play goal. St. Louis needed just seven seconds of its first try with the man-advantage to score, as Paul Stastny steered an Alexander Steen pass behind Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury just seven seconds into the man-advantage.

*** The Penguins have a man-advantage goal in four consecutive games.

*** Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy broke a 2-2 tie at 6:49 of the second, wristing a shot past Allen from high on the left side of the slot. “Very rarely do I hit where I’m aiming,” Lovejoy said. “And that was exactly where I was trying to put it.”

*** The Blues had won their previous four games against the Penguins that went to overtime.

*** Kessel has his second four-game points streak of the season.

*** The Penguins are 10-0 when leading after two periods and 10-3 in one-goal games.