After Sidney Crosby recorded two goals, Erik Karlsson scored 49 seconds into overtime, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 win over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Vegas tied the contest with 6.7 seconds remaining in regulation after a timeout. Noah Hanifin’s drive blew past a screened Tristan Jarry (35 saves), who was otherwise solid in a second straight start since being recalled following a lengthy stint in the AHL — after being waived in mid-January.
However, the Penguins, who blew a 2-0 lead, didn’t wait long to bounce back. Right off the bench, Karlsson drove home a drop pass from Evgeni Malkin that appeared to deflect off the stick of Vegas’ Jack Eichel, and it went past Ilya Samsonov (14 saves) for the winner.
Despite being outshot 37-17, Pittsburgh won for a second straight game following a 1-7-1 rut. Crosby has recorded back-to-back two-goal games while Rickard Rakell had two assists.
Hanifin and Pavel Dorofeyev each had a goal with an assist for the Golden Knights, who have dropped two straight after winning seven of the prior eight. Vegas is 1-5-1 all-time at Pittsburgh.
The Penguins recorded just five shots on goal in the first period, but one of those was the lone score of the first 20 minutes. On their second power play of the night, the Penguins came through. Rakell slid the puck through the slot for Crosby, down on one knee, to flip past Samsonov with 2:12 left before the first intermission.
Crosby extended Pittsburgh’s lead 3:02 into the second. Set up again by Rakell, the 37-year-old veteran put a nifty move on Vegas’ Tomas Hertl, then skated untouched through the slot and beat Samsonov for a 2-0 edge.
Vegas finally got to Jarry, who stopped the first 17 shots he faced, with 5:31 remaining in the middle frame. On a power play, and via precise passing from Eichel and Hanifin, Dorofeyev one-timed a 91 mph slap shot from the right circle past Jarry, cutting Pittsburgh’s lead in half.
–Field Level Media
