PITTSBURGH _ This Penguins team has proven capable of many things, and it did something noteworthy tonight.
It won its second game in a row.
Now, that might not sound like much, but the Penguins' 5-3 victory against Detroit at PPG Paints Arena marked the first time since Nov. 5-8 that they have recorded consecutive victories.
They did it on the strength of a third-period surge, running off four goals to wipe out a 3-1 Red Wings lead.
The victory raised their record to 15-7-3 and keeps them two points behind the first-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division.
Left winger Chris Kunitz rejoined the Penguins' lineup after sitting out six games because of an undisclosed injury.
The Red Wings entered the game with six players unavailable because of injuries, and gave goalie Jared Coreau his first start in the NHL.
None of that seemed to matter much during the first period, however.
The Penguins ran up an 11-7 edge in shots then, but failed to get any past Coreau.
He made his best stop of those 20 minutes at 2:37, when he denied Sidney Crosby from inside the right circle.
Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury countered with a stellar stop of his own 6{ minutes into the game, as he turned aside Anthony Mantha on a breakaway.
Fleury was less fortunate at 13:31, as Detroit left winger Henrik Zetterberg flipped a backhander past him from close range for a 1-0 lead.
Bryan Rust had a chance to pull the Penguins even while killing a penalty late in the period, but Coreau stopped him.
Fleury used his right leg to reject a point-blank shot by Detroit's Tomas Jurco at 4:09 of the second period, and the Penguins failed to capitalize on their second power play of the game a few minutes later.
Just seven seconds after Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson finished serving an interference minor, however, Frans Nielsen of Detroit scored off the rush, beating Fleury from inside the left circle at 8:00.
Evgeni Malkin had a chance to get that goal back just a half-minute later, but Coreau stopped him from near the right hash mark.
Malkin got a measure of revenge just 2{ minutes after that, however, as he set up Phil Kessel to cut Detroit's lead in half.
Kessel was at the inner edge of the right circle and extended to steer Malkin's feed past Coreau for his seventh of the season. Carl Hagelin received the second assist.
Malkin's assist gave him at least one point in each of his past 10 home games.
Kessel's goal seemed to give the Penguins a boost, but Detroit aborted their momentum at 18:14, when Dylan Larkin drove a shot past Fleury from the top of the right circle to make it 3-1.
Larkin scored just two seconds after the Penguins killed a high-sticking minor that had been assessed to defenseman Ian Cole.
The Penguins seemed to regroup during the second intermission, however, and Nick Bonino pulled them to within one by throwing a wrist shot past Coreau from above the right circle at 2:05 of the third.
The goal _ Bonino's second in two games and third of the season _ earned assists for Cole and Rust.
The Cole-Justin Schultz pairing has been the Penguins' most reliable for much of this season, and manufactured the tying goal for them at 6:28.
Cole slid a cross-ice pass to Schultz, who was at the top of the left circle and pounded the puck past Coreau for his second. Malkin got the second assist.
Kessel put the Penguins in front to stay at 10:54, taking a feed from Hagelin and scoring from left of the crease, and Matt Cullen was awarded a goal with 40.9 seconds left in regulation when he was tripped during a breakaway on an empty net.
