LAS VEGAS – If the Pittsburgh Penguins’ weren’t paralyzed by the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ colorful and raucous pregame theatrics, they sure seemed like it in the first period.
Pittsburgh gave up three Vegas goals in the opening frame, including two in the first five minutes of action in Thursday night’s 5-2 loss at T-Mobile Arena, which was also the team’s sixth consecutive defeat.
Less than two minutes into the game, former Penguin Phil Kessel got the Golden Knights on the board first. Chad Ruhwedel couldn’t get to a dump-in pass from the blue line quick enough, which allowed William Karlsson to connect with Paul Cotter, who quickly dished off to Kessel to finish the night’s first goal off in tic-tac-toe fashion.
Just more than three minutes later, Jack Eichel put an exclamation mark on his return from injury, scoring on a breakaway goal in his first game since Dec. 9. The Penguins over-pursued on the offensive end, which put Jan Rutta in a tough spot. Rutta chose to pressure Nicolas Roy in hopes of generating a turnover, but the Vegas forward dished off to Eichel just in time, putting Casey DeSmith in a difficult spot against the former No. 2 overall pick.
A Jake Guentzel slashing penalty furthered the Penguins’ first-period woes. The Golden Knights converted on their first power play when Chandler Stephenson beat DeSmith from the high slot to push their commanding advantage to 3-0.
Pittsburgh came to life in the second period and dominated possession, but the Penguins had nothing to show for their efforts as they could not slide the puck past backup goalie Adin Hill. Evgeni Malkin had the team’s best chance of the period, nicking the post on a power-play shot but coming up empty.
Instead, it was the Golden Knights, despite being outshot 19-12 in the second period, who got a tally in the middle frame to up their lead to 4-0. With 10.7 seconds to go before the second intermission, a shot from the point by Brayden McNabb bounced off Mark Stone before trickling through DeSmith’s wickets.
Hill’s bid for a shutout was foiled by Ty Smith in the third period. Smith, whose goal was his first with the Penguins after spending the last two seasons with the Devils, was set up by a driving Guentzel who left the defenseman with a clear path to the back of the Vegas net.
Vegas moved its lead back to four not long after, though. Another breakaway opportunity for the Golden Knights forced DeSmith to come off his line, and a late pass from Kessel to Cotter gave the left wing a wide-open net to bury his first goal in a month.
Sidney Crosby chipped in a late goal, but it was too little, too late in the Penguins’ sixth consecutive loss.
ICE CHIPS
Drew O’Connor, who was a healthy scratch for the Penguins’ last two games, returned to the lineup against the Golden Knights as a member of the fourth line.
Mark Friedman was a healthy scratch after playing in each of Pittsburgh’s last three games. His partner for that trio of contests, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, made a pairing with Ruhwedel.
Teddy Blueger returned to the fourth line after working with the third group for the last pair of games. Against Vegas, he operated alongside O’Connor and Brock McGinn, who has been a mainstay on the third line this season. Blueger was banged up while blocking a shot in the first period, but he played the rest of the way.
Jeff Carter moved back to center after working at right wing each of the past two games. He was flanked by Danton Heinen to his left and Kasperi Kapanen to his right. Heinen and Kapanen were fourth-liners in Pittsburgh’s most recent games.
Guentzel was held without a goal for the eighth game in a row. During that stretch, Guentzel has been a -5 player, although he did register an assist on Smith’s score. Guenzel had two clear paths to a goal during the Penguins’ power play, including on their second one when a sprawling Hill left his net open. But, the forward fanned on that shot attempt.
Marcus Pettersson was a season-worst -3 during his 18:48 of ice time. Pettersson’s plus/minus took a serious hit, as he entered Thursday night with a plus four rating
STAT N’AT
15–By going scoreless on their three power-play chances Thursday night, the Penguins are now 0 for 13 with an extra attacker in the last three games. Pittsburgh was 0 for 9 on Dec. 30 against New Jersey and could not tickle the twine on any of its three chances in the Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins.
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