Marc Andre-Fleury hardly looked like a goalie who had just finished a highly intense third period.
Fleury, back in net after getting a night off, made 28 saves and Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal that lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Boston Bruins 2-1 Saturday for their ninth win in 10 games.
“Just came off a five-day break,’’ said Fleury, sitting with a baseball cap on backward and smiling frequently. “It was nice to get back.’’
Matt Cooke had the other goal for the Penguins, who rebounded from a 1-0 loss at Toronto on Wednesday that ended a season-high eight-game winning streak.
Until he got additional rest after the All-Star break, Fleury had played in 23 straight game. The break may’ve been what he needed after allowing four goals twice in four games.
“Marc was exceptional,’’ Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “He was able to control the rebounds and limit the opportunities they had.’’
The only goal the Bruins got past him was a shot he couldn’t see.
Joe Corvo scored Boston’s goal, and Tim Thomas stopped 26 shots. The Bruins hadn’t lost consecutive games since early December and had not dropped two in a row at home since late October.
Corvo’s goal on a seemingly harmless shot from the point beat Fleury 6:45 into the third, cutting it to 2-1.
From there, the Penguins defense helped make Fleury’s day a bit easier, blocking a number of shots.
“They got a goal to cut it to one and every player had to play good team defense,’’ Bylsma said.
Boston was blanked by Carolina 3-0 on Thursday. The Bruins have lost six of 10.
“Obviously, I think we’ve been getting a lot of chances,’’ Boston center Tyler Seguin said. “We had so many chances — I don’t know if we’re running into hot goaltenders or we’re just not getting enough people in front of the net, but we have to figure out a way to score some more goals.’’
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Malkin’s power play goal with 9 seconds left in the opening period. James Neal fired a shot from the point and Chris Kunitz, positioned in front, jammed at the rebound before it slid over to Malkin, who fired it past Thomas.
The Malkin-Neal-Kunitz line has been carrying the Penguins for nearly two months, scoring 35 of the team’s 67 goals.
Cooke scored at 1:53 into the third when Thomas attempted to clear the rebound but mishandled the puck in the crease. Cooke was booed briefly — as he is nearly all the time by the TD Garden crowd.
Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard in March 2010 sidelined the center with a concussion. Savard missed most of last season and has been out all this year with post-concussion symptoms.
Corvo’s goal was his first since Dec. 10 and just his third of the season, snapping the Bruins’ scoreless stretch at 119 minutes, 36 seconds.