The Pittsburgh Penguins (26-31-10) opened up a five-game homestand on Tuesday night when they welcomed the Vegas Golden Knights (38-19-7) to PPG Paints Arena. Five days removed from their 4-0 loss in Vegas, the Penguins secured their revenge with a 3-2 overtime win.
Coming off a 29-save win over the Minnesota Wild, Tristan Jarry was back in net for head coach Mike Sullivan. He made 36 saves in the win. Ilya Samsonov allowed three goals on 17 shots in the loss for the Golden Knights.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vegas Golden Knights Recap
In a very good period from both sides, it took two power plays and nearly 18 minutes for Sidney Crosby to open the scoring. A beautiful feed from Rickard Rakell on the blade allowed Crosby to tip it over the shoulder of Samsonov. That was all the first period saw as the Penguins took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
Coming hard out of the gate for the second period, the Penguins were playing solid hockey. It took just over three minutes for Crosby to give them a 2-0 lead with a perfectly-placed shot over the left pad of Samsonov. Looking to storm back and cut the lead in half, the Golden Knights were throwing everything at Jarry. He, however, came up with some big stops to keep the score 2-0 through the first 10 minutes of the second period. After continuing their strong play for the remainder of the period, the Golden Knights cut their deficit to 2-1 as Pavel Dorofeyev found the back of the net on the power play. A bit of puck luck for the Golden Knights after a shot rang off the post with under 10 seconds to go in the period, they saw themselves still down by just one goal heading into the final frame.
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Vegas kept pouring on the pressure in the third period as they held a 10-2 shot advantage through the first 12 minutes. When the Penguins looked like they were going to hang on for the win, Noah Hanifin knotted the game at two with six seconds left in the game. Vegas had one final shot with just two seconds to go, but Jarry made the save to send the game to overtime.
Smartly controlling the puck gave the Penguins the only chances in overtime. Just 49 seconds in, Erik Karlsson rifled home the game-winning goal for his ninth of the season just 49 seconds in.
Both teams return to action on Thursday night (March 11). The Penguins host the St. Louis Blues in their first meeting of the season. The Golden Knights will continue their road trip as they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
