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 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 Penguins rolled past the fast-fading 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.
"Obviously, you can see the (first line's) production on the score
sheet," coach Mike Sullivan said. "It's good to see they got
rewarded for their efforts. They've been playing hard, but that
hasn't necessarily translated onto the score sheet the last week.
Tonight it did."
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
Crosby and center Evgeni Malkin.
"Obviously it feels great to get that one, the first, out of the way
and hopefully there are more coming here," said Hornqvist, who has
10 goals in 18 games against Arizona.
Fleury made sure the Coyotes didn't get even one goal, making 30
saves in his 43rd career shutout while improving to 10-1-1 in his
last 12 games in Consol Energy Center. The Penguins, starting a busy
week in which they play five games in seven days, are 11-2-2 in
their last 15 on home ice.
Given their crowded schedule, the Penguins might be getting hot at
just the right time -- they've won three of four and are 1-4-1 in
their last 16 games.
Perhaps because of that, and despite doing little more near the
deadline than adding puck-moving defenseman Justin Schultz, Sullivan
said, "I like our team. ... This is how we have to play to be the
playoff-type team we want to be."
Coyotes coach Dave Tippett certainly doesn't feel the same way.
His team couldn't convert on a 5-on-3 in the first period --
generating little on a night that Hornqvist scored twice himself in
the period. Arizona finished up a winless five-game road trip in
which it didn't score more than two goals in any game, and dropped
its sixth in a row overall.
"If we'd gotten one there (with the two-man advantage), it would
have given us something to grab onto, but there wasn't much to grab
onto all night," Tippett said.
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.
"We didn't play very well, right to the end," Tippett said.
The Penguins played well from the start. Hornqvist gave the Penguins
a 1-0 lead 5:42 into the game, whacking the puck past goalie
Domingue as it lay in the crease at following Crosby's bad-angle
shot from along the goal line.
Crosby's three assists gave him as many points as he had in his
previous eight games combined -- a slump by the Penguins captain
that followed a run of 12 goals and seven assists in nine games.
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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.
"Sid and Kunitz did a good job of getting the puck in there (early
on), and create that little scrum in front of net," Hornqvist said.
"I think our starts haven't been very good lately, and tonight we
had a good start and it led to a good game."
Kunitz scored himself midway through the second period, off a
rebound of Letting'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.
"We forced some turnovers and we were strong in and around the net,"
Crosby said.
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.
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