93.7 The Fan (PITTSBURGH) - Bryan Rust scores game winner in overtime as the Penguins beat the Kings 4-3, completing the California road trip sweep.
Rust originally scored a game winner in overtime but it was called back after video review deemed him offsides. 22 seconds later he scored the true game winner on a wrap around past Kings goalie Pheonix Copley.
The Penguins opened up the scoring in the first period on a Sidney Crosby goal, his 7th of the season.
Pittsburgh got absolutely burned on a line change after the Kings cleared the puck during the Penguins power play. Anže Kopitar beat the Pens players to the puck and found a wide open Carl Grundstrom in front of the net for the shorthanded goal tying the game at 1-1.
Halfway through the second period Adrian Kempe got an open look and got the puck past Magnus Hellberg, giving the Kings their first lead of the game. Pittsburgh responded with under two minutes to play in the period, this time with the Kings on the powerplay. Lars Eller stole the puck at center ice and deked past two Kings players and fired a wrist shot past the glove of Copley tying the game at 2-2 after two periods.
Less than a minute into the third period Jake Guentzel got a great feed from Crosby in front of the net and put it past Copley to give the Pens the lead 3-2. The Kings responded six minutes later on a rush to the net. Hellberg denied Jordan Spence but was out of position after the save and Kevin Fiala was right there for the rebound score, tying the game 3-3.
Despite being outshot 36-20, the Penguins were able to come away with the victory. Magnus Hellberg stopped 33 shots in the win. It's the second time ever the Penguins swept the California road trip. The other time they did it was in the 1996-1997 season.
"It was an ugly win," said head coach Mike Sullivan. "I don't think we were at our best. We had moments where I thought we were good. There were momentum swings on both sides, but I just thought we kept competing. We didn't get down when they scored, we just kept competing. They're a good team, they're hard to play against, they have good size, they can skate, they play with a lot of structure. I thought it was a gutsy effort on our part."
The Penguins return home for a 7:30 puck drop Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres.