Pregame
Same lineup for the Penguins again, Arturs Silovs gets back in the net.
First period
Fun first period with free-flowing play and limited faceoffs. Vegas is the better team in the first 5-10 minutes, Pittsburgh then battles back and tips the scales as play moves along. Evgeni Malkin sets the tone with a huge hit on Tomas Hertl, then later helps build momentum with Egor Chinakhov with several scoring chances.
Back-and-forth play ambles along, Ben Kindel has two Golden Knights in front of him when he snaps a long-range shot. It catches Adin Hill a little off guard, 1-0 Pens.
The rest of the period slips away quickly, there are only eight faceoffs in the whole period. Shots are low too, 6-5 Pens.
Second period
Mitch Marner takes the first penalty of the game when he trips Erik Karlsson. The ensuing power play doesn’t get much going but does have a lot of zone time. That leads to Tommy Novak hitting Chinakhov with a pass soon after the penalty expired, Chinakhov displayed his lightning quick release to beat Hill to the far side. 2-0.
A bit later, Avery Hayes hits Colton Sissons, pretty routine. Cole Reinhardt skates over and asks for a fight, Hayes is very willing to give it to him. They throw a few punches and then get tied up, nothing major. The Pens come out of that deal with a power play with Reinhardt picking up an extra minor. The power play scores quickly, Erik Karlsson throws a high shot to the net, the puck bounces around and Bryan Rust is the first on it. Rust flicks it by an out of sorts Hill. 3-0.
The Golden Knights get their first power play of the game, Kris Letang is sent off for tripping. The strong Pens PK takes care of it.
Pittsburgh then gets another power play, Vegas is caught with too many players on the ice. The Pens make quick work of it again, Karlsson finds Rickard Rakell who sweeps a puck in past Hill. 4-0.
The penalty-fest continues when Blake Lizotte gets called for reaching in and tripping Jack Eichel, another successful penalty kill.
The three-goal second period puts the Pens up a commanding 4-0 after 40 minutes, shots were 11-7 PIT in the middle frame.
Third period
The Knights start trying to get it into gear late but hit a road block when Reilly Smith trips Lizotte.
Hertl pays Malkin back from the first period with a massive open ice hit of his own.
Play continues on, Kindel drops a puck in the offensive zone for Justin Brazeau in support and skates to the net. Brazeau shoots from distance, Hill doesn’t pick up on it. 5-0.
Some thoughts
- Chinakhov is up to seven goals in his last nine games. Even when he doesn’t score, the threat of his shot and the possibility is there almost every shift. Really impressive to watch him operate these days, such a talent. He doesn’t need a lot of time or space to get a hard shot away.
- The Bob Grove stat of the day: 2-7-3 in their last 12 home afternoon games and 0-4-2 in the last six Sunday home games. Games like this can be tricky with out of cycle starts and usually back-to-backs on a Sunday.
- Very disjointed game from Vegas, made worse when Mark Stone left with an injury in the first period and didn’t return. Couldn’t have helped matters there, weird occurrence where Letang gave a little push on Stone’s upper arm. No twisting or huge force but something went awry.
- Vegas played to type from the preview, they don’t give up a ton of shots but they don’t get a lot of saves. The Kindel shot was tricky but caught Hill back in his crease. The third goal Hill was also a bit out of position from the mayhem in front and Rust made him pay.
- Unique way for Hayes to pitch in by getting in a fight that drew an extra penalty on the other guy. As it should have, there was nothing wrong with Hayes’s hit in the first place. Reinhardt, understandably, was looking to do something to provide a jolt to his team in that moment (down 2-0 and looking sleepy throughout) yet it backfired since the Pens scored quickly and turned it into a 3-0 game.
- Big game from the special teams, the power play scored twice (plus scored a defacto PPG six seconds after one expired), the PK was 2/2. That’s the foundation for a winning recipe.
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Good bounceback from the Pens for letting a point getaway yesterday, the party moves onto Boston on Tuesday night.
