Penguins Stun Kings, 5-1

The other day I remarked that the Penguins have consistently kept me guessin’. The beat went on last night at Crypto.com Arena in LA.

Playing their third game in four nights, and following a cross-country flight to boot, our Pens throttled a very good and rested Kings squad, 5-1. In the process snapping our host’s nine-game home winning streak.

I confess I didn’t watch the game (which is probably why we won). Too late for my aging blood. However, from what I can glean from the box scores, videos and other accounts, our guys played a whale of a game.

We got the jump midway through the first period on a power-play goal by Kevin Hayes. The hulking forward made a dazzling move to walk around Kings d-man Joel Edmundson before beating goalie David Rittich at the post.

The Pens upped their lead four minutes later when Sidney Crosby tipped a Matt Grzelcyk knuckler past Rittich, courtesy of a nice bit of grinding down low by Anthony Beauvillier.

A goal from Two-Headed Monster mate Evgeni Malkin put us up by three at 8:26 of the second frame. Fresh off the bench, Philip Tomasino took a short pass from Marcus Pettersson and drove north-south past Warren Foegele before dishing a cross-slot backhand feed to Malkin. Geno wasted no motion in whipping the puck between Rittich’s wickets for his ninth goal of the season.

Down 3-zip, the Kings began a push back, aided by overlapping penalties to Owen Pickering and Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Adrian Kempe, the left coast version of Isles Penguin-killer Brock Nelson, scored on the ensuing two-man advantage to close the gap to 3-1.

In a bit of role reversal, the Pens immediately quelled the uprising. Cody Glass drove to the net and banged home a perfect feed from Hayes with a minute left in the period to restore our three-goal cushion.

Beauvillier capped the scoring at 6:57 of the third with another front-porch goal.

Puckpourri

Alex Nedeljkovic turned in a second-straight quality start, stopping 25 of 26 shots for a sterling .962 save percentage.

Hayes, Beauvillier and Crosby were the game’s three stars, in that order. Each tallied a goal and an assist.

Sid now has 51 points in 48 games. Remarkable.

Since returning to the lineup on January 3 after being mothballed for nearly a month, Hayes has been a middle-six force with four goals and a helper in nine games. Beauvillier’s on pace for an 18-goal season, which is pretty much his career norm. Not bad for a Filene’s Basement pickup.

How good was it to see Geno get that goal and snap a personal six-game goalless drought? He and Tomasino flashed some chemistry. Speaking of the former Pred, when he gets to open space he displays hockey smarts, creativity and hands.

In the things-that-make-you-go-hmm-department, Rickard Rakell returned to Pittsburgh, reportedly to attend to a personal matter. Veteran Matt Nieto dressed in his place. Wish it were Jesse Puljujärvi instead, but that ship has apparently sailed.

On the flip side of the coin, the Pens promoted goalie Sergei Murashov from Wheeling to the Baby Pens. With the promising rookie joining Filip Larsson and recently demoted Tristan Jarry, it makes for an awfully crowded crease in Wilkes-Barre.

Can’t imagine Murashov, who reeled off a franchise record 13-game winning streak with the Nailers, was promoted to sit. Which makes you wonder what kind of workload (if any) the exiled Jarry will receive…

The Pens (20-21-8, 48 points) enjoy a well-deserved, two-day break before taking on the Ducks Thursday night. We’re four points out of the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot, currently occupied by the Bruins.

Maybe we’re in the wrong division. We’re 6-3-1 against the Pacific.