r top-four blueliners out of the lineup on Thursday, rookie defense

PITTSBURGH - The red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins will try to push their season-best winning streak to seven games when they host the Calgary Flames in Saturdays matinee clash at CONSOL Energy Center. Pittsburgh has won six in a row and 11 of its last 12 games to open a big lead atop the Metropolitan Division. With 53 points, the Penguins are 12 points ahead of Washington for the divisions top spot and Pittsburgh also is five points in front of Boston for the Eastern Conference lead. Despite battling a rash of injuries, the Pens posted their two most recent wins on back-to-back nights, beating the New York Rangers on the road in a 4-3 shootout on Wednesday before downing the visiting Minnesota Wild by a 5-2 score on Thursday. The decisive victory over the Wild was the ninth straight win on home ice for the Pens, who are off to a stellar 16-3-0 mark as the host this season. If history is any indication, Pittsburgh has a good chance to make it 10 straight home wins this afternoon. The Pens are 12-1-0 with two ties in their last 15 home games against the Flames, and Calgary has lost eight of 10 overall in this series. Pittsburgh is currently dealing with injuries to star forward Evgeni Malkin and defensemen Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi. With their top-four blueliners out of the lineup on Thursday, rookie defenseman Olli Maatta took charge in the win over Minnesota. Maatta scored a key short-handed goal on a penalty shot and collected one assist, helping the Penguins post a 5-2 decision over the Wild. A first-round pick (22nd overall) in the 2012 draft, the 19-year-old Maatta has three goals and eight assists in 37 games this season. The Finnish prospect has done most of his damage recently, notching seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) over his last 10 outings. Maatta became only the second defenseman in Penguins history to score on a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by Minnesotas Jonas Brodin at 7:54 of the third period. He came in wide from the right side and snapped a wrister that trickled across the goal line to give Pittsburgh a 5-2 lead. "Ive tried that move in practice a few times. Its the only move I have," Maatta said. "I thought (Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom) got it at first. Then I saw it go in so I was pretty excited." Chris Kunitz had two goals for the Penguins, while Jeff Zatkoff made 24 saves for the win. Malkin is questionable for todays game, while Letang, Martin, Orpik and Scuderi are out. While Pittsburgh aims for its 10th straight home win on Saturday, the Flames will try to halt a three-game road slide. Calgary began a five-game road trip with last Saturdays overtime win in Buffalo, but Bob Hartleys club has gone 0-1-2 since. The Flames played Thursday evening in Detroit and was dealt a 3-2 overtime loss by the Red Wings, who won after Daniel Alfredsson scored his second goal of the game just 63 seconds into the extra session. Detroit got a power play when Calgary defenseman TJ Brodie was whistled for hooking with 42 seconds left in regulation. On the ensuing power play, Pavel Datsyuk fed Alfredsson for a one-timer in the slot and the veteran ripped the shot past Karri Ramo. Mikael Backlund and Mark Giordano both scored for Calgary. Ramo stopped 35 shots in defeat. After closing its road trip on Saturday, Calgary will play its next five games at the Saddledome, beginning with Mondays game against St. Louis. The Flames are 7-9-3 as the guest this season and 6-7-3 at home. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. College Football Jerseys Wholesale . The three Calgary natives will compete after the sport was skipped by the Vancouver Games in 2010 but later included on the program for Sochi, Russia. The fight to include womens ski jumping prior to Vancouver went to the courts only to have the Supreme Court of Canada rule against the athletes appeal in 2009. http://www.ncaacheapjerseys.com/?tag=che...nes-jerseys.com) - A chant of Zeke reverberated around AT&T Stadium before Ezekiel Elliott powered into the end zone for his fourth and final touchdown. Cheap Tom Brady Michigan Jersey .J. Hardy finally got in on the fun Saturday, against a likely opponent. NCAA Jerseys China .Y. - Terry and Kim Pegula have no immediate plans to tinker with their new NFL team.NEW YORK -- Rookie Mason Plumlee and the reserves were flying high, so Brooklyns starters took a seat. Plumlee scored a season-high 22 points and matched his best with 13 rebounds, and the Nets used their best defensive first half in eight years as the springboard for a 93-81 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night. Brooklyn held New Orleans to 28 points in the first 24 minutes, its lowest total since also allowing 28 against the Lakers on Nov. 27, 2005. The Nets were fueled by their reserves, with their top three scorers coming off their bench and no starters finishing in double figures. "Any time we can rest our older guys -- its no secret were old, so we look at this as a win in a couple of ways," Plumlee said. "We can rest them and keep them fresh, and going into All-Star break thats good." Mirza Teletovic had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets, who improved to 13-5 overall and 9-2 at home in 2014. Alan Anderson scored 13 points in the Nets first victory in their NBA history with no starters in double figures, according to information provided to them by Elias. Anthony Davis had 24 points and nine rebounds for the Pelicans, who had won seven of 10. They used big fourth-quarter comebacks to win their previous two games, but fell too far behind to come back in this one. "First four or five possessions we just didnt run our offence with any kind of zeal the way that weve been running it at home," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said. The Nets jumped to an 11-0 lead while the Pelicans were missing their first seven shots. Brooklyn shot 65 per cent to New Orleans 25 per cent in the period, opening a 29-14 lead on Plumlees dunk with 40 seconds remaining. He kept playing above the rim in the second, soaring to catch Jason Terrys alley-oop pass with his right hand and slam it down on a fast break -- Terrys 5,000th career assist -- and later slamming home the miss of Terrys 3-point attempt to make it 42-21 with 5:02 to go. Terry, a former Sixth Man of the Year winner, said the reserves were disappointed in their performance the last twoo games.dddddddddddd "Our job as a bench is to come out and make an impact on the game, and we did that tonight and J-Kidd rewarded us with lengthy playing time," Terry said, referring to coach Jason Kidd. "So felt good, we got the win and we must continue to get better as a unit." The Pelicans were on an embarrassing pace of a barely a point per minute for most of the half, trailing 48-21 more than 20 minutes in, and the Nets led 51-28 at the break. New Orleans briefly trimmed it to single digits during a 32-point third quarter, but the Nets quickly finished them off early in the fourth, again with Plumlee and the reserves on the floor. The Pelicans, who were playing the first of three straight on the road while the NBA readies their arena to host next weekends All-Star festivities, had easily their worst first half of the season and shot just 56 per cent from the foul line for the game. "We just didnt play (well) tonight," Davis said. "We know it. Coaches know it. Everybody knows it." Tyreke Evans, the former Rookie of the Year who the Pelicans signed during the off-season, didnt play. Williams called it an "internal" issue. Brooklyn improved to 9-9 against Western Conference teams, joining Indiana and Miami as only East teams with a .500 or better mark against the stronger side. The Nets host Charlotte on Wednesday, then play seven straight on the road and arent back at Barclays Center until March 3. Notes: Nets centre Kevin Garnett had to leave the game early in the third quarter after a foul from Alexis Ajinca drew blood. He returned shortly after with a bandage on the left side of his head.