Two goals apiece from Sidney Crosby and Tommy Novak carried the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Pittsburgh struck twice in the opening minutes of the first period. Novak opened the scoring at 1:52 with an even-strength wrist shot set up by Declan Carlile and Kris Letang, then added his second goal on a snap shot at 5:10 off an assist from Ben Kindel. Corey Perry cut the lead to 2-1 for Los Angeles at 9:55 on a batted shot assisted by Mikey Anderson and Artemi Panarin. Egor Chinakhov restored Pittsburgh's two-goal cushion on the power play at 19:31 with a wrist shot set up by Ville Koivunen and Evgeni Malkin.
Los Angeles closed within one again early in the second period when Alex Laferriere scored on the power play at 3:07 off assists from Adrian Kempe and Erik Gustafsson. Pittsburgh answered at 17:13 as Crosby deflected a shot into the net off setups from Malkin and Erik Karlsson. Crosby capped the scoring with an empty-net goal at 18:44 of the third period, assisted by Malkin and Letang.
Sergei Murashov earned the victory in goal for the Penguins with 26 saves on 28 shots. Darcy Kuemper made 14 saves on 18 shots for the Kings. Both teams finished 1-for-3 on the power play and were assessed six penalty minutes each.
Malkin led all skaters with three assists, and Letang added two assists. The win improved Pittsburgh to 6-9-2 on the season, while Los Angeles dropped to 5-8-2.
Pittsburgh visits the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Los Angeles hosts the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
