Musings: Penguins Get Big Win in Return from Holiday Break

The holiday break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Penguins, who had been struggling for most of December.

Some rest and relaxation did them good, as they returned to game action with a vengeance, coming away with a 7-3 win over Chicago on Sunday at United Center.

Justin Brazeau recorded his first career NHL hat trick, Bryan Rust tallied twice, and Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also got on the board as the Penguins registered a season-high in goals. Ryan Shea got the first three-point night of his career with three helpers, and Arturs Silovs made 21 saves between the pipes for Pittsburgh.

“It was good to have that type of game out of break,” Shea said. “Very happy with the way the team played, getting off to a good start and just keeping our foot on the gas.”

The Penguins took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission. It took them just one minute and 38 seconds to get on the board, with a goal from Mantha. From there, they were opportunistic, as the Blackhawks had a decent amount of chances. It helped that Chicago had played the night before, so they had been able to shake off the rust and get their legs back.

But on the flip side, they had more fatigue. So, the Penguins kept pushing, and Silovs was there for his team when they needed him. Rust made it 2-0 with his second goal in as many games, while Brazeau gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead just over a minute later.

“I thought we felt pretty good,” Brazeau said. “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 and kind of keeping that pressure on them.”

Chicago used its timeout at that point, and got a power play shortly after. But the Penguins penalty kill was bolstered by the return of Blake Lizotte, who had missed the last nine games with an upper-body injury.

Lizotte helped set up a goal from Rust out of the box that made it 4-0, getting it to Shea, who registered the primary assist. The goal resulted in Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight getting pulled.

“Lizzo did a great job kind of owning the puck on the half wall. He sent it to me,” Shea said. “At first, I wanted to try to hit Dewey (Connor Dewar) backdoor, but I didn't have a step on that guy. He actually did a good job back checking. And after I spun, they had a couple guys that came at me, but they kind of half came at me. And then after I got to the middle, Rusty was calling from when he stepped out of the box. So, I knew he had it, and the puck's better off in his hands than mine.”

Chicago had some juice to start the second, and got on the board with a goal from Nick Foligno just over midway through. But Brazeau struck twice in a 57-second span to firmly swing the momentum back on Pittsburgh’s side, the type of response that had been missing during their eight-game winless stretch from Dec. 7-20.

While the Blackhawks did strike again right after Brazeau’s third goal of the night, Noel Acciari made it 7-2 late in the frame to get him one assist from a Gordie Howe hat trick after dropping the gloves in the first. The third period was uneventful in the best way after the adventures of the last few weeks, with the only goal coming from Tyler Bertuzzi with 0.8 seconds left to make it 7-3.

“(Playing with the lead), obviously it's been something that was discussed there over the last month,” Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said. “And I thought we kept playing there. I think obviously, they're going to make a push in the third period. And sometimes teams will start to try to stretch things out. Changes the feel of the game a little bit, but overall, I think more positives than anything to take away from tonight.”