Penguins hold off host Golden Knights
Jan 8, 2020
Tristan Jarry made 31 saves and Dominik Kahun had a goal and an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Brandon Tanev also scored goals for Pittsburgh, which improved to 12-3-1 in its last 16 games. Kris Letang, named an All-Star Game replacement along with Jarry earlier Tuesday, added two assists.
Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Reilly Smith scored goals for Vegas, which had a four-game winning streak snapped and also fell into a tie for first place in the Pacific Division with Arizona. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped just 12 of the 16 shots he faced.
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Malkin started the scoring at the 2:53 mark when he backhanded a bouncing puck in the slot off the crossbar and in for his 12th goal of the season. Hornqvist followed a little over four minutes later when he slid a rebound of a Jack Johnson shot around Fleury and inside the right post for his 10th goal of the season.
The Penguins extended their lead to 3-0 early in the second period when Kahun backhanded a rebound through Fleury's five-hole.
Vegas rebounded to cut it to 3-2 by the end of period on Pacioretty's 19th goal on a wrist shot from the top of the slot, which caromed off the left leg of Johnson past Jarry's blocker, and Stastny's power play goal, when he redirected a Shea Theodore shot for his 12th goal.
Tanev made it 4-2 early in the third period when took a stretch pass from Letang and broke in on the right wing around defenseman Nicolas Hague and then avoided Fleury's poke-check try, sliding a shot inside the left post for his ninth goal of the season.
Smith brought Vegas back to within a goal with his 17th, chipping in a backhand feed from behind the net by Chandler Stephenson, but Jarry came up with several big saves down the stretch to deny Vegas' comeback hopes.
--Field Level Media