By SCOTT CHARLES
Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin each scored twice, Kris Letang had six assists including five in the second period alone, and the Pittsburgh Penguins toppled the New York Islanders 7-0 on Wednesday night.
Tristan Jarry finished with 21 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Rickard Rakell, Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen also scored for Pittsburgh and Marcus Pettersson picked up four assists.
Letang became the first defenseman in NHL history to record five points in a period and the first player of any position in Penguins history to do so.
Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves as the Islanders’ nine-game point streak on home ice (6-0-3) came to an end. Semyon Varlamov replaced Sorokin to begin the third period and made six saves.
Pittsburgh scored six times within a 10:27 stretch of the second period.
Guentzel scored twice within 12 seconds to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead. He cleverly redirected Letang’s shot that was headed wide of the net past Sorokin prior to converting a breakaway.
Letang took advantage of a gap in the Islanders neutral zone coverage and hit Guentzel with a pass in stride behind New York’s defense.
Islanders coach Lane Lambert called timeout between Guentzel’s goals in an effort to get control of the game, but the Penguins continued to convert on offense and capitalize on the Islanders poor defensive structure.
Malkin extended the lead to four goals when Reilly Smith found him all alone in the slot at 12:48. Malkin struck again later on a pass from Letang, his fourth assist of the period.
Zohorna capped off an explosive six-goal second period with his fourth of the season at 17:13.
Pittsburgh scored six goals in a single period on the road for the first time since March 21, 2000 when they did it against the Islanders.
Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson was on the ice for four goals while Pittsburgh outshot New York 20-7 in the middle period.
Rakell buried a loose puck that squeaked past Sorokin at 6:44 of the second period to kick off the outburst.
Puustinen converted a one-time feed from Letang midway through the third period for his first NHL goal.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host St. Louis Blues Saturday
Islanders: Host Washington Capitals Friday.
