3 takeaways: Penguins beat best of the West

Three takeaways from the Penguins’ 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena:

Conference leader conquered

Few NHL teams have had a better start to the season than the Vegas Golden Knights. In the West, none have, as the Knights entered Thursday evening in Pittsburgh as the top team in their conference.

After scrounging a point vs. Carolina on Nov. 29 via an overtime loss, the Penguins have to be feeling pretty good about earning a full two points against another one of the NHL’s top teams.

Especially because the Penguins rallied from a 2-0 deficit after one period and came back again after falling behind 3-2 early in the third.

If anything, the Penguins have done a considerable amount already this season to earn a reputation of being a team that can’t hold leads. Thursday’s win was a change of pace in that regard.

Not only did the Penguins tie the game and then take the lead via third-period goals by Jake Guentzel and Kasperi Kapanen that were just over two minutes apart, but they also held strong against a potent Vegas counterattack for the remaining 10-odd minutes of the game to get the win in regulation.

PK streak ends

Two streaks, one good and one bad, came to an end Thursday night for the Penguins’ special teams units.

On the bright side recently, the team’s penalty kill had been elite, having killed off 37 of 41 opponents’ power-play opportunities in November, good for a 90.2% success rate, which led the NHL during that span.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, their eight-game streak of fighting off all enemy power-play tries came to an end before the first period was finished, when Vegas’ Reilly Smith found the back of the net with Chad Ruhwedel in the box for holding.

With just seconds to play in the second period, Jason Zucker took a roughing penalty, sending Vegas to the power play once again to begin the third.

It took only 86 seconds into the final period for the Knights to strike again on the power play, this time courtesy of Shea Theodore, who buried a wrister through traffic from just inside the blue line.

raise the roof ???? pic.twitter.com/ZmQxzRbaQe

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) December 2, 2022

Having killed 19 consecutive power-play chances entering Thursday’s game, that impressive streak came to an end, with Vegas going 2 for 3 in man-advantage situations.

Sign of life for the PP…

Like the Penguins’ penalty kill, their power play was also riding a streak heading into Thursday, albeit one of a completely negative nature.

Despite a surplus of talent on both power-play units and despite a fair share of opportunities night in and night out, the Penguins have been brutally bad with man-advantage this season.

The Penguins went to the power play just 27 seconds into the first period Thursday, offering them a golden opportunity to spark some life into a facet of their game that has looked nothing short of decrepit all year long.

Instead, it proved to be par for course — inefficient, as many of the Penguins’ man-advantages have been of late.

The Penguins did little of note offensively, tallying just one shot on goal (which Vegas, in short-handed fashion, matched) in addition to getting bogged down in the neutral zone.

With just under 13 minutes to play in regulation, the Penguins were 0 of 3 on the power play and looked well on their way to extending their streak without a goal up a man to seven straight games.

Then, with the Penguins and Knights engaged in some 4-on-4 hockey following penalties to Josh Archibald and Mark Stone, the home team was gifted a 4-on-3 power play after Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson took a penalty (served by Jack Eichel) for interference.

A mere 24 seconds after Thompson’s infraction, Evgeni Malkin sent a cross-ice pass to Guentzel, who launched a slap shot over the left shoulder of Thompson.

Including the first three attempts on Thursday, it snapped an 0 for 18 stretch on the power-play dating to a 6-4 win at Minnesota back on No. 17.

And half off Jake's Shakes tomorrow at @MShakeFactory too! ???? pic.twitter.com/fnWSlvY4WO

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 2, 2022