Recap: Penguins march over Blackhawks 5–0

The Chicago Blackhawks were coming off an impressive 3–1 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in their penultimate home game of the season on Sunday. On Tuesday night, the Hawks looked to sweep the home-and-home series against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. The Blackhawks went back to Spencer Knight in net against Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry.

First period

The opening frame was eerily similar to Sunday’s game until Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal with 16 seconds left in the period. The Pens won the faceoff and Rickard Rakell, in the right circle, found Crosby in the slot, who chipped the puck over Knight’s shoulder and into the net for his 31st of the season and a 1–0 Pittsburgh lead after one.

Second period

Pittsburgh took a 2–0 lead when Erik Karlsson scored his 11th of the season and 200th of his career. Landon Slaggert turned it over at his blue line to Bryan Rust, who fed Ville Koivunen in the left circle and he found a wide-open Karlsson in the opposite circle, who buried it at the 4:45 mark. The Penguins’ lead would stand at 2–0 after 40 minutes.

Third period

Kris Letang gave Pittsburgh a 3–0 with his ninth of the season. Shortly after a Hawks penalty expired, Evgeni Malkin found a streaking Letang creeping up the right side and fired a high shot in at 4:28.

Kevin Hayes made it 4–0 Pittsburgh shortly after. Connor Dewar outworked Artyom Levshunov and chipped the puck off the wall and out of the zone where it was retrieved by Danton Heinen, who fed Hayes in the middle of the ice and he shot it off Knight’s glove and it trickled in. For Hayes, it was his 12th of the season at 7:42.

Hayes made it 5–0 lead with his second of the game and 13th of the season. Heinen and Hayes skated in 2-on-2 and Heinen skated toward the half wall and fired it toward the slot where Hayes deflected it in for the goal at 18:13.

Analysis

The Blackhawks followed up a strong performance on Sunday at the United Center with a lousy effort in Pittsburgh, dropping their league-worst road record to 7–26–5. The Hawks were not able to generate much pressure offensively, especially during the first two periods when they only mustered a total of 15 shots on goal. For the game, Jarry stopped all 26 shots he faced and the Hawks will need to regroup as they head to Beantown for a Thursday night game against the Boston Bruins. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. CDT on CHSN with the radio call on 720 AM WGN.