Pens Roll Over Red Wings

Red-hot Kip Miller scored to snap a second-period tie and Tom Barrasso made 35 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins held on for their sixth straight win, 2-1 over the Detroit Red Wings.

Miller registered his ninth goal of the season and sixth in seven games since being inserted on Pittsburgh's top forward line with Jaromir Jagr. He scored less than two minutes after Detroit's Martin Lapointe tied it with a power-play goal.

Kevin Hatcher carried down the middle of the Red Wings zone, got checked by Steve Yzerman and the two players got tangled with goaltender Chris Osgood as he tried to pokecheck the loose puck. Jan Hrdina pounced on it and passed to Miller, who rifled the puck into the open net.

"I'm just cruising in the slot and Hrdina made a great play," said Miller. "For him to see me that quick, that's a great play."

The six-game winning streak matches a season high for the Penguins, who also won six straight from Dec. 20-Jan. 9. Pittsburgh also recorded its fifth straight home victory and improved to 13-5 in its past 18 overall.

Alexei Kovalev's short-handed goal put the Penguins in front with 4:17 left in the first period. Kovalev was inserted on the penalty killing unit with Ian Moran out with a groin injury. He intercepted the puck from Nicklas Lidstrom inside the blue line and fired a wrist shot that beat Osgood to the stick side.

"I always work as hard as I can," said Kovalev. "I've been successful in killing penalties the last couple of years. Everybody makes mistakes, and I pounced on his (Lidstrom) and I got the chance to help the team."

Kris Draper drew an interference penalty against Darius Kasparaitis and the Wings struck 32 seconds later. Following fluid puck movement, Vyacheslav Kozlov passed through defenseman Jiri Slegr's legs to an open Lapointe, who scored past Barrasso.

Coming off Friday's shutout against Florida, Barrasso has stopped 64 of 65 shots since returning from a neck injury.

"We have to be pleased be to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions," he said. "That's a fantastic hockey team and in the third period you saw how they are capable of playing."

The Red Wings peppered Barrasso with 18 shots over the final 20 minutes, forcing him to make several stellar saves. The best came with 14 minutes left, when he stopped Draper and scrambled across the crease to make a pad stop on Kirk Maltby on the rebound.

"The rebound Maltby had, I thought was in," said Red Wings associate coach Barry Smith. "The angle I had on the bench, it looked like an open net. I can't ask the guys to play a better positional game ... we're just not getting the breaks."

Detroit has lost two in a row and fell to 2-18-1 when trailing after two periods.

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