The Penguins 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild closed out the month of October with an 8-2-2 record for Pittsburgh. The third best October record for the Pens in franchise history.
It didn't start out the Pens way in the first period. Kirill Kaprizov deflected the puck past Tristan Jarry to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. It looked like Evgeni Malkin tied the game but a goaltender interference video review negated the goal.
In the second period, Ryan Shea blasted a slap shot past Filip Gustavsson to tie the game 1-1 heading into the third period.
6.5 minutes into the 3rd period, Sidney Crosby won the faceoff in the Wild's zone and Kris Letang gave the puck to Shea at the blue line who fired a pass towards the net to a cutting Bryan Rust for the backdoor tip in goal. Rust has scored 4 goals in his last 5 games.
"I was just trying to fight for the net. Kind of spun off him there and the puck just hit me right in the tape. That was an unbelievable play by Shea," said Rust after the game.
Rust would pick up an assist one minute later on the power play. Crosby passed the puck to Erik Karlsson who blasted a slap shot at the net but missed wide. The deflection off the boards went to Malkin, who passed the puck to Rust and then found Ben Kindel for the goal.
Pittsburgh added one more with under 3:00 to play as Anthony Mantha wristed an empty netter goal from the Penguins own zone.
The Penguins penalty kill went a perfect 4/4 against the best power play in the NHL this season. They are 12 for their last 13 on the PK.
"They did a great job," said Tristan Jarry after the game. "They didn't have too many looks and I thought we kept them to the outside for a lot of the time and I think when we're doing that, we're blocking shots, I don't think you can ask for more than that."
Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in the Penguins win. He has won his last four starts.
"I don't want to dwell on last season, it is what it is and what happened, I had to learn from," said Jarry. "Being able to learn from that I think brought me to be able to start the season stronger this year and just be able to continue with the momentum that I had last year."
The Pens begin the month of November with an afternoon tilt against the Winnipeg Jets at 3:00 on Saturday.