Blackhawks hand Pens a 4th straight loss
PITTSBURGH -- The Chicago Blackhawks took a four-goal lead in the first period Wednesday as they routed the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 at PPG Paints Arena.
The win was No. 850 in Chicago coach Joel Quenneville's career. The Blackhawks matched a franchise record with their 24th road victory of the season.
Artemi Panarin, Richard Panik, Marcus Kruger and Marian Hossa scored in the first for a 4-0 Chicago lead, and Tanner Kero scored on a breakaway, the Blackhawks' eighth odd-man break, in the third. Bryan Rust scored for Pittsburgh in the third.
The Blackhawks (49-21-7) won a regulation game in Pittsburgh for the first time since Feb. 22, 1997. The Penguins had been 7-0-5 at home in the interim.
Defensive lapses were evident for injury-strapped Pittsburgh (46-19-11), which lost four games in a row for the first time since Mike Sullivan's first four games as coach in December 2015. The Penguins are 0-2-2 in those four games.
The loss put the Presidents' Trophy, as well as the Metropolitan Division title, further from Pittsburgh's reach. Pittsburgh also failed to gain on Columbus for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. The Blue Jackets, second in the Metropolitan, are two points ahead of the Penguins with a game in hand.
Corey Crawford stopped 31 of 32 Pittsburgh shots and has won four of his past five decisions.
Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 31 saves for the Penguins, had been 3-0-2 in his previous five decisions.
Patrick Kane's slick play set up the first goal of the game. He skated behind the Pittsburgh net, but passed back against the grain to Panarin, who slipped the puck inside the near post for a 1-0 Chicago lead at 3:32 of the first.
The Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead at 14:39 of the first when Panik, from the slot, one-timed a pass from Nick Schmaltz.
Chicago then scored twice in the last minute of the first. Kruger scored from just inside the right dot with 54.8 seconds left, and Hossa converted off of a three-on-one with 15.2 seconds left for a 4-0 lead.
NOTES: Chicago LW Ryan Hartman and C Dennis Rasmussen returned to the lineup after being healthy scratches Monday. ... Top-line RW/LW Conor Sheary played in his 100th NHL game after leaving Sunday's game with a lower-body injury. That still left Pittsburgh with eight players out because of injury, including C Evgeni Malkin (shoulder, seventh game out) and D Kris Letang (lower body, 17th game missed). ... The Penguins' healthy scratches were RW Josh Archibald and D David Warsofsky. ... Chicago scratched D Michal Kempny, C Andrew Desjardins, RW Jordin Tootoo and D Michal Rozsival.