WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Jets (9-3-0) scored a pair of goals in the first three minutes, including a first-shot first-goal scenario just 15 seconds into the game. The Pittsburgh Penguins (8-3-2) never recovered and said goodbye to the eight-game points streak.
Winnipeg got ahead early, played well, and handily beat the Penguins 4-2 at the Canada Life Centre.
The Penguins started poorly and never got off the mat.
On the first goal, Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs was burned by anticipating a pass that never was. From behind the goal line, Winnipeg winger Gabriel Vilardi (5) banked the puck off Silovs, who had already turned his head toward the slot.
It was the second time this season that Silovs had allowed a goal on the first shot.
Just a couple of minutes later, energetic Winnipeg put the Penguins in a Manitoba oil well-sized hole. Rookie defenseman Harrison Brunicke got another lesson in always defending hard, even when you’re away from the play.
Parker Ford’s pass as he circled the net slipped through the crease, past a couple of bodies and Silovs, to Brad Lambert (1), who slammed it into the net at the far post for his first career NHL goal at 2:43 of the first.
Lambert stepped past Brunicke for a prime position at the edge of the crease. Brunicke played in his eighth NHL game Saturday. He was a healthy scratch in four of the last five games.
Winnipeg goalie Eric Comrie was largely untested, though he helped out the Penguins midway through the third period when Penguins forward Blake Lizotte (2) swept across the crease with the puck. Comrie made the initial save, but the puck squibbed behind him, and in his attempt to clear it, he knocked it across the line at 10:27 of the third period.
The goal closed the Penguins to within 4-2 in a relatively uncompetitive contest.
Early in the second period, Winnipeg essentially sealed the win. With a few Penguins racing forward, Lizotte’s centering pass was unsuccessful, and Winnipeg quickly transitioned to a two-on-two rush.
Deep in the Penguins’ zone, Jonathan Toews tucked a pass between defenseman Kris Letang’s skates to Vladislav Namestnikov at full speed. Namestnikov (6) quickly chipped the pass past Silovsat 1:17 of the second for a 3-0 lead.
The game continued, but the Penguins never improved.
Midway through the second period, Silovs turned a routine cleared puck into an adventure more akin to driving a Manitoba highway through a snowstorm. Silovs skated over to the corner to play a rolling puck that Winnipeg cleared, but it wasn’t going far enough for icing.
However, Kyle Connor was bearing down on Silovs, who attempted to stickhandle around him. The effort went about as poorly as expected, as Connor quickly stole the puck and headed toward the vacated net. Silovs chucked his stick at Connor, which is a no-no.
Connor (7) scored on the resulting penalty shot at 12:13.
The Penguins finally cracked the scoreboard in the final seconds of the second period. After Neal Pionk’s holding penalty, the Penguins’ second-ranked power play needed only 25 seconds when Erik Karlsson blasted a slapshot at Sidney Crosby.
The painful gambit worked as Crosby (9) used his body to deflect the puck into the net at 19:48 of the second.
Kyle Connor (8) scored his second goal of the game, an empty-netter with 1:21 remaining.
Silovs stopped 29 of 33 shots before exiting for the extra attacker. Comrie stopped 28 of 30.
Penguins Notes
The Penguins played without winger Justin Brazeau, who had six goals and six assists in the first 12 games. Brazeau suffered an upper-body injury Thursday against Minnesota and missed practice Friday.
Philip Tomasino slotted into the lineup in his place, beside Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Mantha on the second line. Tomasino had two shots and two hits.
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Categorized: Penguins Postgame