Brazeau has hat trick, Penguins cruise past Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Justin Brazeau earned his first career hat trick, and the Pittsburgh Penguins cruised to a 7-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

“Obviously a pretty cool feeling,” Brazeau said. “It’s been a long time since I had one of those, so it feels a little weird, but obviously a good feeling for me.”

Bryan Rust scored twice, Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Shea had three assists and was plus-5 for the Penguins (16-12-9). Arturs Silovs made 21 saves to help Pittsburgh push a 4-0 lead in the first period to win its first game after the Christmas break.

“I thought we felt pretty good,” Brazeau said. “Obviously they had a back-to-back, and after a break like that, I think one of the things we wanted to do was get on them early. I thought we did a good job of that, kind of keeping that pressure on them.”

Nick Foligno, Wyatt Kaiser and Tyler Bertuzzi each scored for the Blackhawks (14-18-6), who have lost seven of the past eight games and were coming off a 4-3 shootout victory at Dallas on Saturday.

Spencer Knight made three saves on seven shots before being replaced by Arvid Soderblom at 12:03 of the first period. Soderblom made 12 saves on 15 shots before Knight returned to start the third period and made two saves on two shots.

“It was a night their chances went in in the first and our chances didn’t,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “Then you’re just digging yourself out of a hole that’s difficult to dig out of. We probably had more quality chances for than we did last night, especially in that first part. We probably gave up similar stuff. They went in and ours didn’t. That’s hockey.”

Mantha put the Penguins ahead 1-0 at 1:38 of the first period. He scored on a turnaround shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle after Kaiser fanned on the puck.

“I think it’s huge,” Shea said of getting an early first goal. “The first period can go one or two ways. I think that line was incredible down low. They managed the puck and kind of dominated the first five or six shifts they had. They definitely got it going for us.”

Rust made it 2-0 at 7:19, firing a wrist shot past Knight from the left circle after taking a feed from Sidney Crosby.

The Penguins went ahead 3-0 at 8:20 when Brazeau scored on a snap shot from in close after getting a pass from behind the net from Mantha.

Rust scored his second of the period at 12:03, moving into the right circle and putting a wrist shot past Knight’s blocker with Penguins forward Connor Dewar providing a screen in front. Knight was pulled following Rust's goal, the fourth Penguins score of the period.

Foligno, who returned from injury after missing the past 19 games, put the Blackhawks on the board 4-1 at 10:50 of the second period. The Chicago captain backhanded the rebound of Colton Dach's shot from the slot past Silovs to for his first goal of the season.

“I was excited to get back with the group, obviously,” Foligno said. “You hate being away, especially with some of the injuries we had after just wanting to help this group move forward. So you do your best you can with being out, but it’s nice to get back and get healthy. I give the trainers a lot of credit for working back.”

Brazeau's backhand shot got past Soderblom to make it 5-1 at 12:20 on the power play. Ben Kindel passed to Brazeau, who camped out just outside the crease and shifted the puck forehand to backhand into the net.

“Dealing with him in practice, you can’t really move him from that net,” Shea said of Brazeau. “When he gets there, he’s very dangerous. He’s very smart with his stick. He can tip anything. Yeah, he’s really incredible. He knows how to score goals, and he’s not going to change anything if that’s the result every time."

Brazeau notched the hat trick just 57 seconds later at 13:17 when he tipped in Dewar's shot from the left face-off dot past Soderblom to put the Penguins up 6-1.

Kaiser launched a wrist shot from outside the left face-off dot, which hit off the end boards and past Silovs to make it 6-2, 13 seconds after Brazeau's third goal at 13:30.

Noel Acciari put the Penguins ahead 7-2 at 18:48, when he scored thanks to a puck rebounding off the end board and finding him alone in front for the wrist shot.

Bertuzzi scored with one second left in the third period for the 7-3 final.

Penguins coach Dan Muse said playing with the lead is something his team has discussed “over the last month.”

“I thought we kept playing there,” Muse said. “Obviously they were going to make a push in the third period. Sometimes teams will try to stretch things out, and (that) changes the feel of the game a little bit. But overall, I think more positives than anything to take away from tonight."

NOTES: Forward Blake Lizotte returned to the Penguins lineup after missing nine games with an upper-body injury. He had two assists and was plus-1 in 15:18 of ice time. … Crosby recorded his 778th career road point and tied Gordie Howe for ninth-most in NHL history. … Brazeau became the fourth different undrafted player to score a hat trick for the Penguins in the past 30 years. … The Blackhawks placed forward Frank Nazar on injured reserve. Nazar sustained a facial injury during a 6-4 loss at Ottawa on Dec. 20.