ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Shea scored a second-period goal, and his sharp pass to winger Bryan Rust on the back post early in the third period set up the game-winning goal, as the Pittsburgh Penguins (8-2-2) beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 at Grand Casino Arena.
The win extended the Penguins’ points streak to eight games, and they are 6-0-2 in that span. The streak is the longest in the NHL.
The Penguins cleaned up their game in the second period and outshot their hosts 11-7. The Penguins also had a few good scoring chances, including Connor Dewar’s shorthanded breakaway and some speedy plays by Tommy Novak.
In a bit of poetic justice, the Penguins tied the game in the second period while Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson was knocked down. Wild defenders tripped Ville Koivunen, who slid into Gustavsson, but Koivunen didn’t necessarily make a hasty retreat from the net.
In the process, Shea (2) blasted a slapper past the fallen goalie at 2:18 of the second period. The goal stood in stark contrast to the would-be tally in the first period.
The Penguins put the game away in the third period, blitzing Minnesota with 13 shots in the first 10 minutes of the period and scoring a pair of goals.
First, Rust tapped in the hard pass by Shea at 6:29, then rookie Ben Kindel (3) celebrated his 10th game this season by finishing a wild scramble near the crease.
In fact, the Penguins had a few beefs with the referees after the first period. Not only did refs immediately wave off Evgeni Malkin’s tying goal with a dubious goalie interference designation, but they upheld it after the briefest of reviews despite replays that showed Minnesota defender Jake Middleton making most of the contact with goalie Filip Gustavsson.
Middleton was so angry with his defense that he broke a pane of glass near the bench with a two-handed stick swing before he realized the goal did not count.
The call not only took away the Penguins’ goal but also cost them their timeout as coach Dan Muse used it to get more time to decide to review it.
Later in the first period, Bryan Rust was given a tripping call for shoulder-to-shoulder contact with Wild puck carrier Matt Bouldy.
Minnesota scored the only goal of the opening period when the highest-paid player in the NHL, Kirill Kaprizov (7), redirected Marcus Johansson’s pass behind Jarry.
Anthony Mantha added the empty net goal at 17:18.
Jarry stopped 27 of 28 shots for his fifth win of the season. He is 5-1-0. Gustavsson stopped 29 of 32 shots in the loss.
Penguins Notes
By playing his 10th game, Kindel’s entry-level contract was enacted. His nine-game “tryout” in which the team could send him back to juniors is over (though they could technically send him back to the WHL, but he would be on an NHL contract).
Shea set a career high with his fifth and sixth points of the season.
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