SEATTLE — Leave it to an expansion team to alleviate what ailed the Penguins.
In the first three games of this road trip, they got just one goal from someone not named Guentzel or Crosby. Their middle six had been a mess, which prompted the coaching staff to rearrange their lineup Saturday. And Casey DeSmith, who got the nod in goal, was still looking for his first win of the season Monday.
But in the first game in franchise history in the Emerald City, the Penguins got right with a dominant 6-1 win over the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Winning their second in a row, they concluded the long trip with a 2-1-1 record.
Maybe it was due to too much Starbucks, but the Penguins buzzed at the thought of playing their first game against the Kraken in their beautiful, new barn.
“I would anticipate it being a game with a lot of energy in the building,” coach Mike Sullivan said after Monday’s morning skate. “Those are the fun ones to be a part of. As we say to our guys all of the time, we’ve got to feed off that energy.”
They did, potting three of their first four shots to chase Philipp Grubauer.
Jeff Carter got the first goal 1:47 into the game when his attempted centering pass hit the goalie’s stick and ramped up into the Seattle net. About three minutes later, Sidney Crosby swatted a loose puck over the goal line after Jake Guentzel’s twirling one-timer got through Grubauer and skittered into the blue paint.
Before the public address announcer could let the crowd know who made it 2-0, Danton Heinen flung an innocent wrister through Grubauer, who got yanked just 5:07 into the game. Joey Daccord came in to relieve the Seattle starter.
DeSmith had not even faced a Kraken shot before he was spotted a 3-0 lead.
DeSmith was winless on the season entering Monday. He had allowed 17 total goals while losing his first four starts. His last win came way back on April 24.
“We know Casey is capable of playing at a higher level than he’s shown to this point. And we expect that he will moving forward,” Sullivan said after naming him the starter Monday. “He’s played a lot of real good hockey for us over the last couple of seasons and our expectation is that he’s going to find his game here.”
DeSmith took a step in the right direction in Seattle. He made 28 saves, including eight as the Kraken pushed in the second period, for his first win of 2021-22.
In the first period, he kicked out a shot from the slot by former teammate Jared McCann. In the second, after letting a rebound squirt out, DeSmith smothered the follow-up. Moments later, he used a poke check to shut down a 3-on-1.
The lone puck that got past him was a second-period Jordan Eberle tap-in.
Just when it seemed as if the Kraken might make it a game, the Penguins scored a pair of goals 23 seconds apart late in the second period to make it 5-1.
Guentzel converted a 2-on-1 and with three points Monday, the winger extended his point streak, the NHL’s longest, to 13 games. He had seven goals in four games on this road trip, including a hat trick in Saturday’s victory in Vancouver.
Carter then got a fortunate bounce off the shin pad of Jamie Oleksiak, one of four ex-Penguins in the Kraken lineup Monday, for his second of the game.
That was one of three goals scored by the new second line that has Carter between Jason Zucker and Heinen. The Penguins had gotten just one five-on-five goal from their second line in 10 games before Sullivan shuffled the lineup in Vancouver, sending Kasperi Kapanen down the depth chart and bumping up Heinen.
Sure, that trio benefited from a few fortuitous bounces. But the Carter line tracked favorably in terms of scoring chances and expected goals percentage.
In the three previous games, Guentzel and Crosby had six of the Penguins’ seven goals. So they surely felt relieved to get secondary scoring in Seattle, though those two still produced, too. Guentzel netted another in the third period.
The Penguins on Monday matched up against McCann and Brandon Tanev, two fan favorites during their time in Pittsburgh. Those two came ready to play.
“It’s a business but at the same time you want to go out there and have one of your better games,” Tanev said. “It’s a former team for Jared and myself but at the same time there’s two points on the line and that’s what’s most important.”
The Kraken line that featured McCann and Tanev was arguably Seattle’s best on Monday. But DeSmith and the Penguins kept those two off the score sheet.
Their four-game road trip over, the Penguins will get a bit of a break before a busy weekend. They visit Washington on Friday then host Anaheim a day later.
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