NHL - Pens Round Up - January 23-25, 2018

Carolina Hurricanes @ Penguins 1-3 - Tuesday, January 23, 2018


Jean-Sebastien Dea's first NHL goal broke a tie in the second period, and Casey DeSmith made 34 saves to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PPG Paints Arena. Dea, who was playing his fourth NHL game, gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 9:19 of the second period. Bryan Rust backhanded a pass to Dea gliding toward the crease, allowing him to deflect it by Cam Ward.

"It was special," Dea said. "I don't know what to say right now. It's a pretty amazing feeling. I've dreamt about it since I was a little boy. It's just really amazing right now. … I ran into the ref or the other guy [Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin] after that. I just wanted to get out of there and [celebrate] for that goal."

Jake Guentzel made it 3-1 at 11:02 of the third. DeSmith has allowed fewer than three goals in each of his three NHL starts. He made 28 saves in a 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings in his first start on Jan. 18 before allowing two goals on 36 shots in a 2-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

"I'm just happy to be out here," DeSmith said. "I'm playing hard and guys are playing hard for me. That's why I've gotten a couple wins here. So, they're playing pretty responsibly in front of me and they're making my job pretty easy, letting me see the puck and stuff like that.
"I've played worse in my life, for sure. I'm just playing at a high level right now and I'm fortunate it's coming at this time."

Ward made 30 saves. He allowed one goal on 49 shots in his prior two games against the Penguins this season. Pittsburgh (26-21-3) has outscored its opponents 18-9 during a four-game home win streak. Carolina (21-19-8) has lost eight of its past 11 games (3-7-1). After Derek Ryan gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 7:14 of the second period, Dominik Simon and Dea scored 1:16 apart. Simon carried down the far wall to the top of the right face-off circle before sending a wrist shot past Ward's glove, tying it 1-1 on his second NHL goal at 8:03 of the second before Dea made it 2-1. Simon has scored twice in his past three games after going his first 18 NHL games without a goal.

Sidney Crosby had the primary assist on Simon's goal to extend his point streak to eight games. He has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) during that stretch.

Ryan opened the scoring when he collected Lee Stempniak's rebound with his left skate and scored on a wrist shot for his 10th goal of the season.
  
"[Dea] gets his first NHL goal tonight. That's always a great experience. He'll never forget that as long as he lives. The energy that's around that, every player on the bench remembers their first goal. So, I think everyone gets excited when that happens." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan


Crosby's assist was his 1,079th NHL point, tying him with Jaromir Jagr for second on the Penguins all-time list, trailing Mario Lemieux (1,723). ... Each of the Penguins' three goal scorers (Simon, Dea and Guentzel) is 23 years old. … Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce returned from missing five games because of an upper-body injury. … Rust returned from missing 11 games with an upper-body injury. He had the primary assist on Dea's goal and led the Penguins with three blocked shots.

Minnesota Wild @ Penguins 3-6 - Thursday, January 25, 2018


Sidney Crosby had three assists to move into second on the Pittsburgh Penguins scoring list in a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena. Crosby passed Jaromir Jagr with his 1,080th point when he set up a one-timer from Dominik Simon that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 3:54 of the first period. Mario Lemieux is first with 1,723 points.

"I think you just feel more confident. You see things a little bit more [when you score regularly]," said Crosby, who has 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) during a nine-game point streak. "When it's going like that, it's fun to play. You tend to think of the ones you miss or could've had more than the ones that you actually convert on."


Evgeni Malkin (two goals, one assist) and Phil Kessel (three assists) had three points each, and rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith made 23 saves in his fourth straight start for the Penguins (27-21-3), who are 7-2-0 in their past nine games.
"We're in a fight for the playoffs here," DeSmith said. "With the guys this locker room, it's no surprise they're elevating their game each and every game. It's a good time to do it, for sure."
Minnesota (26-18-5) had its six-game point streak end. Malkin made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 9:09 of the first period. After receiving a pass from Crosby, Malkin carried it behind the Wild net and attempted a pass that hit Ryan Suter's leg and ricocheted off the back of Devan Dubnyk's left skate. Carl Hagelin extended the lead to 3-0 at 9:28 of the second before Dumoulin scored 1:27 later.

Crosby batted a puck down and turned up ice, sending a cross-ice pass to Hagelin, who quickly returned it to Crosby who tapped a pass to Dumoulin drifting toward the left post. Dumoulin took a wrist shot to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-0. Alex Stalock replaced Dubnyk, who made 17 saves on 21 shots, following Dumoulin's goal. Stalock stopped 16 of 18 shots. Malkin scored another power-play goal, which deflected off Suter's skate, to make it 5-0 at 1:42 of the third.

Simon pushed it to 6-0 with his second goal at 2:32.

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau called a timeout following Simon's goal and told his players he wanted them to show pride in the remaining 17:28. Minnesota responded with three straight goals. Eric Staal scored at 8:44 when he got to the loose puck off Nate Prosser's blocked shot and beat DeSmith glove side to make it 6-1.

Mikael Granlund made it 6-2 with a power-play goal at 10:50 before Jonas Brodin scored 56 seconds later to make it 6-3. Staal said the Wild wanted to push back but weren't fooled into thinking they had a chance to win at that point.

"I think all of the elite players in the game, they tend to see the game quicker. They see it before other people on the rink ... I think Sid is one of those elite guys." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Crosby remains one goal shy of 400 in the NHL. He is on a five-game goal drought since scoring his 399th against the New York Rangers on Jan. 14. … Wild forward Matt Cullen returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since signing with Minnesota on Aug. 16. He won the Stanley Cup twice and had 63 points (29 goals, 34 assists) in two seasons with the Penguins. … Penguins defenseman Matt Hunwick, who Sullivan listed as day to day, did not play with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Ian Cole replaced him after being a healthy scratch the past seven games.