Kevin Hayes, Sidney Crosby and Anthony Beauvillier each had a goal and an assist to help the Pittsburgh Penguins end the Los Angeles Kings’ nine-game home winning streak with a 5-1 victory on Monday night.
Evgeni Malkin and Cody Glass also scored and Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves for the Penguins, who had lost four of their last five games and eight of their last 10 (2-5-3).
Adrian Kempe scored and David Rittich made 27 saves for the Kings, who have dropped four of five following a five-game winning streak. Los Angeles had not lost at home since a 1-0 setback to Buffalo on Nov. 20.
The Penguins went on the first power play of the game at 8:38 of the first period. Hayes carried the puck through the right circle and briefly appeared like he would bring the puck behind the net, but he cut toward the crease. Los Angeles defenseman Joel Edmundson poked the puck off his stick and into his own net for the game’s first goal at 10:09.
Crosby was in the left circle when he deflected a one-timer from Matt Grzelcyk past Rittich for a 2-0 lead at 14:09 of the first.
The Penguins stretched the lead to 3-0 at 8:26 of the second period when Philip Tomasino drove through the left circle and made a backhand feed to Malkin, who swept the puck into the net from the bottom of the right circle.
Pittsburgh committed two minor penalties 57 seconds apart late in the second period and Kempe scored on the 5-on-3 when he banked a one-timer off the cross bar to cut it to 3-1 at 16:02.
The Penguins re-established their three-goal lead with one minute left in the period when Hayes centered a pass in front of the crease to Glass, who redirected the puck past Rittich to make it 4-1.
Rittich lost track of the puck after making a save and Beauvillier swept the puck into the net from the crease to make it 5-1 at 6:57 of the third.
The Penguins played without the team’s leading goal scorer, Rickard Rakell, who returned to Pittsburgh for personal reasons.
–Field Level Media
