PITTSBURGH — In their third game without captain Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins (30-15-14) took most of the first period to find their legs. In a low-event game, the Penguins scored a pair of power play goals and notched two more with wicked shots to dim the lights on the Vegas Golden Knights (28-18-14), 4-0 at PPG Paints Arena Sunday.
The Penguins are 2-0-1 without Crosby, who suffered a lower-body injury while captaining Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He is out for approximately four weeks.
The Penguins finished the first period with a one-goal lead, though it might have been hard to tell. The Penguins were sleepy, the small crowd followed the team’s lead, and Vegas didn’t exactly wake up anyone, either.
The final shot clock after the first 20 minutes was 6-5 as the arena game operations and TV network rushed to backfill commercials as the teams played with only a couple of stoppages in the period.
Later in the first period, Penguins rookie Ben Kindel put the first mark on the scoreboard with a sneaky wrister. As he raced across the blue line and into Vegas defenders, he pulled the puck toward his skates but then unleashed a hard wrister with a quick release near his skates. Kindel (15) beat Vegas goalie Adin Hill at 14:56 for the 1-0 lead.
The Penguins found a little bit of momentum in the second period, claiming a 4-0 lead.
Mere seconds after a Penguins power play expired, winger Egor Chinakhov staked the team to a 2-0 lead with a filthy wrist shot from about 15 feet. Like Kindel, Chinakhov (13) pulled the puck toward his skates before snapping a high shot past Hill with a lightning-quick release at 5:47 of the second.
The Penguins’ third-ranked power play converted another chance midway through the period. Rookie Avery Hayes fought Vegas fourth-liner Cole Reinhardt, but referees demurred giving Reinhardt an instigator penalty, which also carries an automatic 10-minute misconduct penalty. Instead, referees gifted Reinhardt a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
On the resulting power play, Bryan Rust notched his 20th goal of the season when a blocked shot fell to his feet in the low slot. Rust (20) chipped it over Hill’s glove at 9:34.
Sunday was the second consecutive game in which the Penguins allowed fewer than 10 shots in the first 30 minutes of the game. The team was outshooting the New York Rangers 16-7 with a 2-1 lead Saturday. Sunday, the Penguins were outshooting Vegas 15-8 at the halfway point.
As the Penguins’ public address announcer, Ryan Mill, likes to say, but wait, there’s more.
Later in the second period, a sloppy line change resulted in a Vegas penalty for too many men on the ice. The Penguins converted that chance, too, when Rickard Rakell (11) stopped Erik Karlsson’s shot near the net and extended around Hill for an easy marker at 15:06.
Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs had barely broken a sweat. After two periods, the Penguins were outshooting Vegas in the low-event game, 17-13.
Later in the third period, Justin Brazeau (16) scored his second goal in the last 10 games when he beat Hill on the rush from the right circle at 14:59.
The win increased the Penguins’ playoff cushion over the Washington Capitals to six points, and the Penguins have three games in hand. The Penguins also lead the Columbus Blue Jackets by nine points, with one more game played. Columbus plays New York at Madison Square Garden Monday.
Silovs stopped all 22 shots he faced for his second career shutout. His first was on opening night when he helped blank New York, 6-0 at PPG Paints Arena.
Hill had a rough go, stopping 18 of 23.
The Penguins have another one-game road trip Tuesday against the Boston Bruins.
Categorized:Penguins Postgame
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