Penguins 6, Coyotes 0
PITTSBURGH -- Right wing Patric Hornqvist scored three goals, center Sidney Crosby set up three and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury put up his fifth shutout of the season as the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past the sliding Arizona Coyotes 6-0 on Monday night.
The Penguins' top line accounted for each of the first five goals as Hornqvist enjoyed his first career hat trick and had an assist, Crosby broke out of a recent scoring slump with his playmaking and left winger Chris Kunitz also scored and added an assist.
Fleury made 30 saves in his 43rd career shutout while improving to 10-1-1 in his last 12 games in Consol Energy Center -- where the Penguins, starting a busy week in which they play five games in seven days, are 11-2-2 in their last 15.
Given their crowded schedule, the Penguins might be getting hot at just the right time -- they've won three of four and are 11-4-1 in their last 16 games.
The Coyotes, generating little on a night that Hornqvist scored twice himself in the first period, finished up a winless five-game road trip and dropped their sixth in a row overall. They didn't score more than two goals in any game during the road trip.
Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue stopped only 27 of 33 shots, giving up goals to defenseman Kris Letang and center Matt Cullen only 16 seconds apart in the final two minutes.
Hornqvist's hat trick was his first in 488 career NHL games, and he needed barely a period and a half to achieve it -- with the help of centers Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Hornqvist gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead over the slumping Coyotes 5:42 into the game, whacking the puck past Domingue as it lay in the crease at the feet of multiple players following Crosby's bad-angle shot from along the goal line.
Crosby assisted on each of the Penguins' first three goals, matching the combined number of points in his previous eight games -- a slump by the Penguins captain that following a run of 12 goals and seven assists in nine games.
Hornqvist also scored at 17:46 of the first as Kunitz's wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the sticks of Coyotes center Martin Hanzal and Hornqvist and past Domingue, who started his 11th consecutive game.
Kunitz scored himself midway through the second period, off a rebound of Letang's shot from the top of the slot.
Only eight seconds after Kunitz scored his 12th of the season, Coyotes defenseman Zbynek Michalek went off for delay of game at 9:55. Hornqvist needed only 11 seconds after that to end Pittsburgh's 0-for-19 slump on the power play over a 10-game stretch, putting a one-timer past Domingue off Malkin's pass from the opposite circle.
Hornqvist's hat trick was unique -- the first in the Penguins' 49-year history on Feb. 29.
NOTES: LW Sergei Plotnikov arrived at Consol Energy Center for the Pittsburgh Penguins' morning pregame skate but by evening was in an Arizona Coyotes uniform following two separate trades between the teams. The Penguins reacquired C Dustin Jeffrey from Arizona in the other trade; the deals mostly involved minor leaguers and draft picks. ... Arizona also dealt LW Mikkel Boedker (39 points but a minus-28) to the Colorado Avalanche for 36-year-old F Alex Tanguay and two prospects. ... The Penguins play at Washington on Tuesday in the makeup of a scheduled Jan. 24 game postponed by heavy snow. ... Arizona brought up F Craig Cunningham from its AHL farm club. ... LW Jiri Sekac, acquired Saturday by Arizona on waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks, was in uniform. ... Coyotes C Viktor Tikhonov missed the game because his wife was due to give birth. ... Penguins D Justin Schultz, acquired Saturday from the Edmonton Oilers, has yet to report. ... Pittsburgh reassigned F Conor Sheary to the AHL. ... Arizona scratched D Nicklas Grossmann, D Jarred Tinordi and Tanguay (not arrived). Pittsburgh, which is carrying three goalies, scratched Schultz and G Jeff Zatkoff.