Pittsburgh Penguins

A power-play goal scored in the final three minutes of a blowout loss on the road normally wouldn't be much to celebrate, but center Evgeni Malkin's tally with 2:41 remaining Thursday night at Ottawa was the Penguins' first road power-play goal in 522 minutes, 22 seconds.

Before Malkin scored, the Penguins had not gotten a power-play goal on the road since Oct. 10 at Toronto, where captain Sidney Crosby capped a 3-for-5 night with a score at 14:31 of the second period.

The Penguins are 1-for-33 on the power play on the road since, and they've lost four straight away from Mellon Arena after opening a franchise-best 7-0-0.

Since Halloween the Penguins are a scary 3-6-0, and they are 6-7-0 since an 8-1-0 start.

SENATORS 6, PENGUINS 2: Mark it down as four straight road defeats. The Penguins were outscored 4-1 in the third period. Aside from center Jordan Staal's sixth goal and second in as many games, the Penguins looked awful.

Center Evgeni Malkin's late power-play goal snapped a seven-game road skid for the Penguins' advantage attack, but the Penguins failed to score on 1:22 of power-play time to open the third period -- and Ottawa tallied the next four goals to take control of the game.

The Penguins went 1-for-5 on the power play, generating nine shots in a little more than eight minutes.

• C Jordan Staal has scored in back-to-back games after a goal at Ottawa on Thursday. Staal is now tied with injured D Alex Goligoski for second on the Penguins with six goals.

• D Chris Lee was recalled from the AHL on Thursday because D Mark Eaton had back spasms before the game. Lee was scratched because Eaton played.

Quote To Note:

"Playing in our end is the biggest thing for us. We weren't playing in their end and wearing down their team. Creating turnovers in the neutral zone and turning it right back at them is our game. To be honest, (the Senators) did that better than us, and they got rewarded."

—Penguins C Jordan Staal after the Penguins' 6-2 loss at Ottawa on Thursday.

Goaltenders:

Marc-Andre Fleury, Brent Johnson.

Defensmen:

Sergei Gonchar, Mark Eaton, Martin Skoula, Ben Lovejoy, Deryk Engelland, Nate Guenin.

First Line:

Ruslan Fedotenko, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin.

Second Line:

Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal, Bill Guerin.

Third Line:

Matt Cooke, Craig Adams, Max Talbot.

Fourth Line:

Eric Godard, Michael Rupp, Chris Bourque.

Player Notes:

• D Sergei Gonchar returned Thursday after missing 12 games with a broken left wrist. Gonchar played more than 25 minutes in a loss at Ottawa. The Penguins' defense corps, hit hard by injuries since Gonchar was hurt Oct. 20, could get D Brooks Orpik back for a game Saturday at Atlanta. D Jay McKee is out at least two weeks with an infected finger, and D Alex Goligoski is out at least two weeks with a lower body injury. Also, D Kris Letang has returned to practice in a non-contact capacity after he was injured at San Jose on Nov. 7. Letang has a right shoulder injury. The Penguins are playing with three AHL regulars on defense: Deryk Engelland, Nate Guenin and Ben Lovejoy.

• RW Tyler Kennedy is on target to resume skating in the next three days, coach Dan Bylsma said Thursday. Kennedy has not played since Nov. 5 at Los Angeles and has missed 9-of-10 games. He has a lower-body injury that is not limited to a strained groin.

• RW Max Talbot played Thursday for the first time this season. Talbot, a Stanley Cup hero with two goals in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, had off-season surgery on his left shoulder and missed the Penguins' first 21 games. Talbot played 13 minutes and recorded three hits against the Senators.

Medical Watch:

• RW Tyler Kennedy (lower body injury) is out at least until Tuesday. He has missed 9-of-10 games since Oct. 24.

• D Kris Letang (right shoulder contusion) is practicing in a non-contact capacity. He was injured Nov. 7 at San Jose.

• D Brooks Orpik (lower body injury) could play Saturday at Atlanta. He was injured Nov. 10 at Boston.

• LW Chris Kunitz (lower body injury) is out two weeks.

• D Alex Goligoski (lower-body injury) is out two weeks. He was injured Saturday against Boston.

• D Jay McKee (infected finger) is out 2-to-4 weeks. He was injured Monday against Anaheim.