PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins (27-14-11) scored four second period goals, propelling them to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks (21-24-9). The win was the Penguins’ fifth in a row, while the loss for Chicago was their fourth straight defeat. The Penguins swept their two games with the Blackhawks this season, scoring a combined 13 goals.

Dating back to the NHL’s holiday break on December 27, the Penguins now have points in 14 of their last 16 games. The Penguins have also fared particularly well against Western Conference opponents, improving their record in such games to 12-6-6 with Thursday’s win.

Ten Penguins players recorded at least a point and Arturs Silovs stopped 17 Chicago shots to earn his second-consecutive win and tenth of the season.

After some rather uninspired back-and-forth play to start the game, Chicago grabbed momentum from a power play opportunity. With Ben Kindel in the box for hooking at 6:11 of the first, the Blackhawks went to work and fired a barrage of shots at Silovs that included a shot off the post and a Connor Bedard shot from the slot that a stick-less Silovs got a piece of with a sprawling glove save.

Shortly after the power play expired, Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy (3) got his own shot from the slot, but he did not miss, wristing a laser past Silovs’ glove side at 9:32 of the first. Silovs was not only dealing with the Murphy shot, but his own defenseman, Kris Letang, bumping into him as he attempted to make the save.

Unfazed, less than two minutes later the Penguins answered at 11:24 of the frame when Connor Dewar (12) grabbed a Noel Acciari rebound by kicking the puck from his skate up to his stick. He then sent a fluttering puck from the slot towards the Chicago net that eluded Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom and tucked just inside the left post to knot the game 1-1. The goal, his 12th of the season, established a new career-high for Dewar.

The Penguins carried the play to start the second and took their first lead of the night when rookie Ben Kindel (11) accepted an Anthony Mantha pass and snapped the puck from inside the left faceoff circle through the five hole of an off-balance Soderblom at 5:54. It was Kindel’s third goal in the past two games.  

The Penguins’ third goal was one for the highlight reel. Evgeni Malkin entered the zone with the puck and peeled off to the left boards while all in one motion sending a twirling backhand pass to the stick of Egor Chinakhov in the slot. Chinakhov (9) then dangled Chicago defenseman Artyom Levshunnov and flipped the puck off Soderblom and in. Since his Penguins debut on January 1 he has six goals, tying Sidney Crosby for the most goals for the Penguins during that time frame. The Penguins’ record since Chinakhov joined the team is now 10-2-2.

Just 31 seconds later, Mantha (17) grabbed a perfect Kindel pass, split the Chicago defensemen and slid a backhander through the legs of Soderblom to put the Penguins ahead 4-1.

The Penguins continued their dominance of the period and added a fifth goal when Ryan Shea (3) blasted a slap shot past the glove of Soderblom at 19:30 of the second.

Dewar (13) netted his second of the game to close out the scoring for the Penguins at 13:59 of the third. Bedard (21) added a goal late to bring Chicago to within four, but that would be as close as they would get.

The Penguins will look to make it six-consecutive wins on Saturday afternoon against former coach Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers.

Penguins Notes:

Forward Bryan Rust served the first game of his three-game suspension for his high hit on Vancouver forward Brock Boeser.

Defenseman Jack St. Ivany was also absent from the Penguins’ lineup and will be for up to eight weeks after undergoing successful surgery on his left hand.

With Rust and St. Ivany out, the Penguins’ lines and defensive pairings took on a slightly different look:

Forwards:

Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Justin Brazeau

Egor Chinkhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin

Rutger McGroarty – Ben Kindel – Anthony Mantha

Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari

Defensemen:

Parker Wotherspoon – Erik Karlsson

Brett Kulak – Kris Letang

Ilya Solovyov – Ryan Shea

Scratches:

Kevin Hayes

Connor Clifton

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