93.7 The Fan (PITTSBURGH) - The Pens score three goals in 35 seconds and dominate Tristan Jarry and Edmonton 6-2.
Anthony Mantha scored in front of the net after Connor Clifton fed a pass to him to make it 1-0 Penguins. 22 seconds later Mantha beat Jarry on a breakaway and it was quickly 2-0 Pittsburgh. 15 seconds after that, Sidney Crosby scored on a redirect and it was 3-0 Penguins not even three minutes into the game.
"I don't think you expect that," said Crosby after the game. "Mo had a big shift there got a couple goals and gave us a boost and I thought were just ready to play from the start. Sometimes it works out that way."
"The start overall throughout the first period, the guys came ready to play," said Dan Muse after the game. "When you're playing a back to back and the other team is fresh, there are plenty of things you can have for excuses, travel, tired, all that and I thought with our group there was none of that. Those guys came out ready to go and I really liked obviously the offensive execution but I liked a lot of the things we were doing on the offensive side just the way the guys were working. Just the overall team game."
With 16 seconds remaining in the period, Zach Hyman had a great chance to cut the Pens lead but Artūrs Šilovs made an incredible save on a backhand attempt and then he kept the puck from crossing over the red line.
"I don't know if it went through my armpit, it bounced a little bit, hit the post and I think Spoons was there coming back and made a great back check to help me out and getting the puck away from a goal," said Šilovs.
Edmonton would get one back on a shorthanded goal from Jake Walman, but the Pens responded with two more in the period. Rickard Rakell buried a wrister to give the Pens the three goal advantage again. Evgeni Malkin pickpocketed Connor McDavid at the blue line and scored on a breakaway backhander to make it 5-1 Pens headed to the third period.
In the third, Egor Chinakhov buried a wrist shot past Jarry. Chinakhov since being traded to the Pens has been on a tear. He has scored 5 goals and recorded 6 points in 12 games.
"He's got quite the shot on him and he's showing that a number of times we've seen it in practice but tonight was another example of it. I hope he keeps shoooting," said Crosby.
Per Penguins Historian Bob Grove on X formerly known as Twitter, "Pens have now held McDavid off the scoresheet in 4 of their last 6 games against him in Edmonton."
"The focus is more on us, I think a team like this there's always going to be some things, especially with certain players they have that you know you need to make sure that your working to try and slow them down a little bit, but in terms of the overall game we don't want to stray too far away from the focus being on us," said Muse.
The Pens currently sit 6 points back from first place in the Metro Divsion. They have earned at least a point in six straight games and look to continue their hot streak when they play Vancouver Sunday evening at 6 p.m.