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LOS ANGELES — The Pittsburgh Penguins (6-9-2) secured a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings (5-8-2) on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, snapping a seven-game road winless streak (0-6-1). The win also lifted Pittsburgh out of a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers for last place in the Eastern Conference.
Rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov made 26 saves, including 18 in the first two periods, to earn his first win of the season (1-4-1) and the second of his NHL career in 11 games. The Penguins' offense was powered by a newly formed line of Ben Kindel centering Tommy Novak and Egor Chinakhov, which accounted for two goals and half of the team's high-danger chances in the first 50 minutes, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Novak opened the scoring at 1:52 of the first period, collecting a rebound off Declan Carlile's point shot and beating Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper. He struck again at 5:10, finishing a rebound after Kindel's initial shot was stopped. Los Angeles got on the board at 14:01 when Corey Perry swatted a fluttering puck out of the air and into the net. The Penguins restored their two-goal lead at 19:32 on a power-play goal by Chinakhov, whose wrist shot hit the inside of the left post and then the white post inside the net before caroming out; a video review confirmed the goal.
The Kings cut the deficit to 3-2 at 3:07 of the second period on Alex Laferriere's power-play goal, but a potential tying goal by Laferriere later in the period was nullified by an offside review. Pittsburgh regained a two-goal cushion at 18:31 of the second when Erik Karlsson's backhand pass found Evgeni Malkin, whose one-timer deflected off Sidney Crosby and past Kuemper. Crosby was credited with the goal after replays showed a slight deflection.
Crosby added an empty-net goal at 18:31 of the third period, diving to knock in a rolling puck. With the goal, Crosby passed Kings legend Marcel Dionne for sixth on the all-time scoring list with 1,772 points. He now trails Ron Francis by 26 points for fifth place all-time.
Kris Letang led all players with four turnovers, including two on a single shift in the second period. The Penguins also honored 12-year-old Adrian in a pregame ceremony for Hockey Fights Cancer; Adrian, who beat cancer, rang the bell and dropped the ceremonial puck. The win marked the first time in franchise history that the Penguins have won four consecutive games in Los Angeles. Pittsburgh will next face the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday at 8 p.m. local time.
Originally reported by yahoo.