Musings: March of the Penguins Begins with a Win

The March of the Penguins began with a 5-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena.

Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Justin Brazeau all found the back of the net, while Arturs Silovs recorded his second shutout of the season.

“We knew that they were a really good team,” Rust said. “We knew that they were going to come out hard. We just wanted to outwork them, and I think that’s what we did for the majority of the night.”

After failing to put together a full 60 minutes against the New York Rangers the day before, the Penguins played one of their more complete games of the season against Vegas.

Kindel got the game’s first goal after he gained possession in the neutral zone off a turnover from Noah Hanifin. The rookie snapped a shot and beat Adin Hill for his 15^th goal of the season.

“It was just a good forecheck by [Anthony Mantha], and the puck found me in the neutral zone,” Kindel said. “Just kind of skated in, tried to get a shot off. I don’t think that I got much on it, but it surprised the goalie a bit or something.”

The Penguins carried that momentum into the second period, when the offense exploded. Right after Pittsburgh’s first power play of the game expired, Tommy Novak found Chinakhov in the slot. He wasted no time and beat Hill with his excellent shot.

Chinakhov has scored 10 goals since his team debut on Jan. 1, which leads the Penguins.  He has points in nine of his last 11 games overall (7G-3A) and has helped the Penguins to a 14-3-4 record while in the lineup.

“The release is crazy; it’s kind of unique,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “I kind of find myself laughing some days at practice when he’s shooting pucks. I just thought his work away from the puck has been pretty consistent with that since he’s gotten here.”

Despite being without captain Sidney Crosby, who is currently sidelined due to injury, the power play has still been clicking. The Penguins went 2-for-3 today, and have converted on the man-advantage at least once in each of their three games coming out of the break. Both units are getting the job done.

“Obviously, our first power play is unbelievable, they have so much skill,” Kindel said. “There are some elite players on the second unit as well that can score and put the puck in the net.”

A few minutes later, Avery Hayes got into his first career NHL fight, and Cole Reinhart was assessed an additional two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct that sent the Penguins back to power play.

After having a goal disallowed and also hitting a post in Saturday’s game in New York, Rust buried the rebound off of Erik Karlsson’s shot that extended the Penguins’ lead to 3-0. Rust’s goal marked the seventh consecutive season that he has reached the 20-goal plateau in his career.

Drafted by Pittsburgh in the third round of the 2010 NHL Draft, Rust has become a leader in the locker room and one of the team's most important players.

 “Where I started as a non-offensive threat, into doing that seven years in a row, I’m really proud of that,” Rust said with a smile. “I gotta give a lot of credit to the guys that I have played with and teams that I’ve been on, but I’ve worked hard at it.”

The Penguins found another power play goal late in the second period after Erik Karlsson’s shot pass from the point found the stick of Rakell, who put in the rebound to make it 4-0.

In the third period, the Penguins held to their structure and didn’t give Vegas many scoring chances. They added to their lead once again when Kindel found Brazeau, who broke a 10-game goalless streak and got his 16^th of the season.

Goal scoring aside, the Penguins’ defense on Sunday was also incredible. Two goal-saving plays from Connor Clifton and Parker Wotherspoon solidified their play in front of Silovs.

“I think it's always a team effort. There’s a lot of second, third efforts from the guys – battling, fighting, getting the blocks that we need,” Silovs said. “Felt pretty comfortable in the crease, like, seeing the puck, trying to get control of the rebounds.”

The penalty kill went 2-for-2, while Silovs stopped all 22 shots that he faced on Sunday to pick up his fifth win in his past six outings.

“He’s been fantastic for us lately,” Rust said. “He was awesome in the Olympics, and it was fun to watch. He comes to the rink, works extremely hard, and he’s always there with [goaltending coach Andy Chiodo] trying to get better. It shows a lot about his character.”

The Penguins have now improved to 2-0-1 following the Olympic break, despite being without Crosby. They will now continue their daunting March schedule when they travel to Boston and face the Bruins on Tuesday night.

“Just all year, we've had different guys out at different times,” Kindel said. “And obviously, Sid is our best player and the biggest part of our team. But with that, guys will still step up, and that's what we've done throughout the year. It’s just a testament to the group we have in here.”