Sidney Crosby and Tommy Novak each scored twice, and the Pittsburgh Penguins snapped a four-game skid with a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Pittsburgh got the kind of start it needed on the first stop of its three-game California trip. Novak opened the scoring at 1:52 of the first period, jumping on the rebound after Declan Carlile’s wrist shot from the left point was stopped by Darcy Kuemper. Novak struck again at 5:10, finishing another rebound chance after Kuemper made the initial save.
The Kings answered at 9:55 of the first when a shot caromed off the end boards to Corey Perry, who bunted the airborne puck into the net to make it 2-1.
The Penguins restored control late in the period on the power play. Egor Chinakho scored from the left circle with 29 seconds left in the first, pushing Pittsburgh ahead 3-1.
Los Angeles kept pressing in the second. Alex Laferriere pulled the Kings within 3-2 at 3:07 when his shot from the right circle deflected off Pittsburgh defenseman Kaedan Korczak and past Sergei Murashov.
The Kings nearly tied it later in the period when Adrian Kempe put one in at 15:31, but Pittsburgh challenged successfully for offsides. The Penguins made them pay shortly after, with Malkin’s shot deflecting off Crosby’s body and into the net at 17:13 to make it 4-2.
Crosby added his second of the night in the third to close out the scoring.
Malkin finished with three assists, while Kris Letang had two. Murashov stopped 26 shots for Pittsburgh. Kuemper made 14 saves for the Kings, who have dropped two of three.
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Los Angeles never found a clean enough offensive response, and the costly moments came when turnovers turned into Pittsburgh opportunities. Even with the territorial edge, the Kings could not turn pressure into enough goals to change the tone of the game. It was the sort of defeat that leaves a team with more questions than comfort, because the underlying effort was there, but the result still slipped away. [Read more 🡒]