Drew O’Connor and Brock McGinn each had a goal and an assist Saturday as the Pittsburgh Penguins built a four-goal lead in the first period and won their home opener 5-2 over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Teddy Blueger, Jason Zucker and Danton Heinen also scored for Pittsburgh.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry made 18 saves.
Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan (253-131-44) moved into first place in coaching wins in franchise history.
Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and Kirby Dach also scored for Chicago.
The Blackhawks’ Marc-Andre Fleury, formerly a Penguins franchise goalie, gave up four goals on 10 shots before being pulled for Kevin Lankinen, who made 15 saves.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 15 seconds into regulation. Blueger blew past Jonathan Toews at the right point. His attempted pass from the lower part of the right circle went off the skate of sliding defenseman Seth Jones and past Fleury.
Fleury was forced into misplaying the puck behind his net by Pittsburgh’s Dominik Simon, and O’Connor backhanded the puck into an open net at 5:33 of the first for his first NHL goal and a 2-0 lead.
McGinn made it 3-0 at 10:59 of the first when he converted a feed from O’Connor off a two-on-one, beating Fleury short side from the right dot.
At 11:25 of the first, Heinen upped it to 4-0 on a lofted shot through traffic from the slot, his team-leading third goal and first career three-game goal streak.
That chased Fleury, who was animated and smashed his stick as he retreated down the Blackhawks runway.
Kane cut the lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 5:00 of the second. From the right dot, he one-timed a feed from Jones. It was the first goal Pittsburgh’s penalty killers allowed this season.
With Jarry pulled for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty, Zucker pushed the Penguins’ lead to 5-1 at 17:55 of the second. His sharp-angle backhander went in off the skate of defenseman Connor Murphy.
Dach finished off a tic-tac-toe play to cut it to 5-2 at 15:57 of the third.
–Field Level Media
