If the Vegas Golden Knights bounce off a rare defeat, they have to find a way to win in Pittsburgh.
As they begin their four-game Eastern trip, the Golden Knights will look for their second highest ever road victory over the low penguins on Tuesday night.
Vegas, the Pacific division leader, has scored seven of the eight, then fell 6-5 to Los Angeles on Sunday at home. Tomas Hertl notched a hat-trick for the Golden Knights, who scored at least five goals in the third in five games.
However, Vegas has also brought at least five goals for the third time in its past six contests.
“For some reason, when Puck wasn’t there, I don’t think we were paying attention to the details,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s what I think is better (this week)… because we’re better than that.
“Hopefully, we keep that in mind. It can be a humble game.”
The Golden Knights certainly get humbled when they play for Pittsburgh. They outscore 21-14 while posting 1-5-0 records. That only victory was 3-0 in October 2019.
However, Vegas won Pittsburgh 4-0 on Friday. Mark Stone scored goals with two assists, with Tanner Pearson scoring one each, and HERTL, who scored 11 points in the final eight games, added a helper.
Meanwhile, Golden Knights backup Ilya Samsov made 22 saves against the Penguin (second shutout of the season) after allowing five goals in each of the previous two starts. Conversely, teammate Addinghill stopped 29 of his 35 shots on Sunday. This is an unusual break as he gave up a total of four goals when he scored his previous four outings in Vegas.
To miss out on the playoffs for the third consecutive time, the Penguins will be 2-6-2 at home from January 11th. Pittsburgh scored 43 goals during that stretch, but then headed home after collecting two points on a three-game road trip in a 3-1 victory in Minnesota.
Sidney Crosby had two third-term goals, and Evgeny Malkin opened up the score as the Penguins got Wild Netminder Mark Andre Fleury, a former teammate who won three Stanley Cups. Crosby became the fourth player in NHL history, scoring 17 20 goals seasons with the same franchise.
“You say that whenever he hits a milestone,” said teammate Brian Rust. “It’s his incredible year of work ethic, a year… he leads this team, and this league by example.”
Crosby scores 17 points in the final 14 contests and has five assists, but has no goals in six home games compared to Vegas.
Meanwhile, after Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry made 29 saves in Minnesota in his first NHL start since January 14th, Jarry was exempt after that start and eventually assigned to AHL Wilkes Barre/Scranton, playing in 12 games last week.
Penguins starter Alex Nedelzikovic stopped 23 of his 27 shots in Vegas on Friday, averaging 4.43 goals and 0.843 save percentage, saving 0-5-0 in the final six starts.
– Field-level media
