Evgeni Malkin achieved his 15th NHL hat trick as the Pittsburgh Penguins annihilated the struggling Detroit Red Wings 11-2 Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Yes, you heard that right. 11 goals. Wanna know the last time that happened? November 13, 2001, when the Ottawa Senators beat the Washington Capitals 11-5 on the Sens' home ice.
Kasperi Kapanen (11) got things going for the Pens at the 4:16 mark of period 1. Later on, Teddy Blueger (9) made it 2-0 Pittsburgh at 14:23 to give the Penguins that lead heading to the 2nd period. It may have very well been an omen of bad things to come for the Dead Wings.
Starting period 2, Malkin logged his 1st of the night, his 14th of the season on the power play to make it 3-0 at 1:48. It would be the start of 4 total unanswered goals by the Penguins, the remaining 3 after Malkin's coming from Jeff Carter's shorty (16) at 3:18, Bryan Rust (22) on the power play at 5:57, and Malkin's 2nd of the night (15) at 7:53. By this point, it was 6-0 Pittsburgh. And although Detroit did manage 1 pair of goals back to back by Dylan Larkin (28) on the power play at 11:37 and Jakub Vrana (6) at 18:04, the Dead Wings' fate had long since been set in stone even before Sidney Crosby (24) at 19:21 of the period gave the Penguins a touchdown goal.
The 3rd period was ALL Pittsburgh, as they rattled off another set of 4 unanswered goals, the first by Danton Heinen (14) at 2:06 for the Penguins' 3rd PPG of the night to make it 8-2. At 5:51, Malkin completed his hatty with goal #16 of the season to make it 9-2. Brian Boyle's tally (8) at 7:15 put the Pens into double digits, and Rickard Rakell (17) scored at 17:08 for the final lamp-lighter on the night.
Team Stats:
Shots: DET 35, PIT 35
Hits: DET 22, PIT 26
Faceoff Wins: DET 33, PIT 27
PIM: DET 12, PIT 10
Up Next:
DET: 3/30, vs. NYR, 7:30 PM
PIT: 3/29, vs. NYR, 7 PM
Comments