Penguins Outgun Golden Knights in Thrilling Game

On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins welcomed the Vegas Golden Knights to PPG Paints Arena for what would turn out to be a wildly entertaining game.

The Penguins came into this game playing solid hockey. Their 7-2-2 stretch ranked as one of the best outputs by any team in the NHL over the last several weeks. On the season, Pittsburgh was 11-8-4 entering Thursday’s action.

Their opponent has been one of the best teams in the league throughout the first six-plus weeks of the campaign. The Golden Knights entered Pittsburgh with a 17-6-1 record, the best mark in the Western Conference.

Vegas had compiled the NHL’s best road record as well, as the team was 10-1-1 away from T-Mobile Arena entering their game in the Steel City.

The Penguins came from behind to take down the Golden Knights.

In the first period, it was all Golden Knights on the scoreboard. Forward Jack Eichel waited only four minutes to put his club on top before Reilly Smith made it a 2-0 advantage. The shots came early and often, and despite trailing after 20 minutes, the Penguins led in shots, 18-14.

While the eye-popping shot volume was one of the early headlines, Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson, who was just named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month, was equally impressive. Both trends would continue throughout the contest.

In period two, the Pens launched 15 shots at Thompson and were rewarded twice. Brock McGinn struck first, and Rickard Rakell evened the score at two. It was a dominant second frame for the home team, and it set the stage for a wild third period.

The Golden Knights broke the tie with a power play goal from Shea Theodore a minute and a half into the period, but Jake Guentzel answered back a few minutes later. Not long after Guentzel knotted things up, Kasperi Kapanen scored his first goal since opening night.

Pittsburgh and Vegas combined for 30 shots in the period, and the Golden Knights threw everything they had at Tristan Jarry of the Penguins in the waning minutes of the game. In the end, the Pens emerged with a 4-3 victory.

Forget about the standings and the analysis of this game, as it was simply one of the most entertaining games of the season. Both teams were flying around the ice, the offenses were hot, and the goaltenders were up to the challenge.

This game truly could have swung either way, and that’s exactly the type of game that fans want to see. There was never a dull moment, and we’ll hope for more of the same when these teams meet again on January 5 in Las Vegas.