After a successful four-game road trip, the Pittsburgh Penguins returned to their home arena and secured a 6-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. This victory marks the team’s fifth consecutive win. Over their last eight games, the Penguins have posted a 6-0-2 record and are currently on a 12-2-2 run since returning from the holiday break.
Goaltender Arturs Silovs commented on the team’s recent form: “Everyone is working hard. It’s hard to win in this league. Everyone understands that. Guys have been clicking really well (with) each other. It’s great to see that.”
The Penguins had contributions across their lineup, with goals scored by Connor Dewar, Ben Kindel, Egor Chinakhov, Anthony Mantha, and Ryan Shea.
With Bryan Rust beginning his three-game suspension, Rutger McGroarty was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and added to the lineup. While he did not register any points, McGroarty led the team with five shots on goal, recorded three hits, and finished with a +3 rating for the night.
Head Coach Dan Muse praised McGroarty’s performance: “I thought he was impactful. He was shooting the puck, driving the net, and was involved. When the opportunity came about, he hit the ground running, and it’s a credit to him.”
The game started slowly for Pittsburgh as they failed to register a shot in the first half of the opening period. The Blackhawks’ Connor Murphy opened scoring before Dewar tied it for Pittsburgh two minutes later.
Muse highlighted Dewar’s consistency: “He’s a guy who doesn’t take any nights off. He’s a great example of playing the right way all of the time. I don’t think he knows anything different. He creates some greasy offense, but when the time and space is there, he can also make skill plays.”
Despite being shorthanded three times during the game, Silovs and Pittsburgh’s penalty killers managed to keep Chicago at bay until intermission with both teams tied.
Anthony Mantha pointed to veteran leadership as key in making quick adjustments: “Easy – I think it’s experience,” Mantha said on what allows them to self-correct quickly. “Those leaders, they have 1,000-plus games. You just listen to them, and you know we needed to step it up, and that’s kind of an easy message to get through.”
Pittsburgh dominated play in the second period by outshooting Chicago 25-6 and scoring four unanswered goals—three coming within five-and-a-half minutes late in that frame.
Ben Kindel scored after receiving a pass from Mantha following strong forechecking work with McGroarty. McGroarty described their shift: “We’re dogs on the forecheck, so once you can hunt down there D and get on them, we did a really good job on that shift,” adding praise for his teammates’ execution leading up to Kindel’s goal.
Later in that period Parker Wotherspoon delivered a significant hit which helped set up Evgeni Malkin’s assist on Egor Chinakhov’s goal; Chinakhov now has eight points in fourteen games since joining Pittsburgh from Columbus.
Thirty seconds after Chinakhov’s goal Kindel set up Mantha for another tally; Mantha noted “[Kindel] has his head up the whole way… It’s kind of a play where you see it’s kind of building up…”
With less than thirty seconds left before intermission Ilya Solovyov—recently acquired from Colorado—assisted Ryan Shea for another Penguins goal: “First I thought that maybe I would unload it… But then… [Shea] was wide open like he was ready to hammer it…”
Reflecting on their strong stretch late in periods McGroarty said: “We started stacking a lot of shifts… We’re a really scary team when we can start stacking shifts…”
In third period action Dewar scored again reaching twelve goals this season—a career high—and extending Pittsburgh’s unbeaten record this year when he scores (10-0-1).
Ten different players recorded at least one point during Thursday’s game while six—including Kindel; Dewar; Mantha; Shea; Lizotte; Acciari—notched multiple points.
Mantha spoke about spreading out offensive production: “I mean that’s a massive part of why we’re winning… everyone in O-zone is kind of creating chances…”
Defensive efforts were also credited as important factors behind recent results according to Mantha: “We’re blocking enough shots… We’re playing compact… Then goalies… are making saves… Our penalty kill has been really good.”
He added further insight into puck control helping reduce defensive pressure throughout games.
