Penguin Teen Fleury Gets First Shutout, 1-0

One goal was all that was needed to make it a perfect night for young Pittsburgh Penguin goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, stopped 20 shots to earn his first NHL shutout in his first road start, and rookie left wing Konstantin Kolstov scored his first NHL goal in the Penguins’ 1-0 victory Thursday night over the Blackhawks at Chicago.

Pittsburgh won for only the second time this season (2-4-3) and ended its four-game winless streak.

Starting on consecutive nights for the first time this season, the 18-year-old Fleury looked sharp.

With the game winding down, Fleury couldn’t help but think of the shutout.

“I tried to not think about it, but I did,” he said. “I was crossing my fingers, hoping that they would not score. I was happy that nothing went by.”

Fleury posted only two shutouts in each of his last two seasons in junior hockey.

He started the game 10th in the NHL with a .937 save percentage and was helped by a stingy Pittsburgh defense.

The Penguins began the game giving up 37.1 shots per game.

Nashville 5, Detroit 3 -- Greg Johnson scored two of Nashville’s three second-period goals, and Marek Zidlicky added three assists at Nashville.

The Predators’ first win over Detroit in more than a year spoiled Curtis Joseph’s season debut in goal for the Red Wings. He stopped 19 shots and was sharp early, shutting out the Predators in the first period and killing off a two-minute, five-on-three power play.

Minnesota 3, Atlanta 2 -- Andrew Brunette and Filip Kuba each had a goal and an assist for the Wild at St. Paul, Minn.

Manny Fernandez made 21 saves and survived a furious rally by Atlanta in the final minute, including one shot by Vyacheslav Kozlov that hit the right post and skidded along the goal line.

New Jersey 3, Philadelphia 2 -- Mike Rupp scored his second goal of the game with 8:43 to play and the Devils won for the first time at home this season.

Scott Stevens set up the game-winner and scored the other goal as the Devils rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win for the first time in five games (1-3-1) at Continental Airlines Arena.

Florida 3, Ottawa 2 -- Byron Ritchie scored his first goal since April 12, 2002, and Steve Shields made 30 saves at Ottawa as the Panthers ended the Senators’ four-game winning streak.

Ritchie scored an unassisted goal 7:16 into the third period for the Panthers.

Montreal 1, Boston 0 -- Joe Juneau ended Montreal’s drought of more than three games without a goal when he scored 1:39 into overtime at Boston.

The Canadiens had not scored a goal since Saturday night’s game against Ottawa, a span of 199 minutes, 25 seconds.

Buffalo 5, Toronto 3 -- Miroslav Satan scored his 200th career goal with the Sabres and added an assist at Buffalo, N.Y.

Alexei Zhitnik and Ales Kotalik each had a goal and an assist as Buffalo won for the fourth time in five games.

New York Rangers 4, Carolina 1 -- Petr Nedved scored the Rangers’ first power-play goal of the season to break a second-period tie at New York. The Rangers were the last NHL team to score a power-play goal, failing 32 times in the first seven-plus games.

San Jose 2, Tampa Bay 2 -- Dave Andreychuk scored the tying goal early in the third period for the Lightning at Tampa Bay.

The Lightning (6-0-1) was bidding to become only the ninth team to start the season with seven consecutive wins.

Only the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs (10 games), the 1934-35 Maple Leafs (eight games) and 1975-76 Sabres (eight games) have started the season with more than seven straight wins.

Edmonton 4, Columbus 3 -- Brad Isbister scored 2:29 into overtime at Edmonton, Canada,

Isbister scored his first goal of the season when he converted Mike York’s pass on a two-on-one.

Rick Nash scored twice, including the tying goal late in the third period for the Blue Jackets. Columbus has lost six in a row.

*

Columbus traded forward Sean Pronger to Vancouver for minor league forward Zenith Komarniski. Pronger had seven goals and six assists in 78 games last season.