PITTSBURGH — If you had clamored for Mike Sullivan to shake up a stagnant Penguins lineup, your wish was granted in Friday’s 5-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Kasperi Kapanen and Dominik Simon were finally healthy scratches. Young Valtteri Puustinen made his NHL debut. And Sullivan unveiled three new forward lines at PPG Paints Arena. Plus, Mike Matheson rejoined the lineup with a jolt.
It was far from a perfect performance. Pittsburgh had to shake off a sluggish second period to beat an undermanned Vegas team down several regulars. That continued a trend of incomplete efforts since last week’s victory at Tampa Bay.
But the Penguins got a goal from three lines and the game-winner from an unlikely source, Mark Friedman, to win despite a rare off night from their stars.
It was just the second time in nine games they scored more than three times.
Their secondary scoring had dried up weeks ago, other than the occasional trickle. Entering Friday, the first line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust had scored 33 of their 68 goals over the last eight weeks. Evgeni Malkin poured in a few on the power play but his 5-on-5 scoring was still sporadic.
Sullivan had finally seen enough in Tuesday’s loss to the Florida Panthers. He benched Kapanen, Simon and Evan Rodrigues as the Penguins unsuccessfully tried to make a comeback in the third period. Asked after that game what else was left to do to try to get Kapanen going, Sullivan admitted that he wasn’t sure.
He had a better idea on Friday. Kapanen was made a healthy scratch for the first time since the Penguins traded a first-round pick to acquire him in 2020.
Simon also took a seat as Puustinen, 22, made his Penguins debut. The fast-rising prospect from Finland skated on Jeff Carter’s right wing. He also saw action on the second power-play unit, nearly scoring from the bumper spot in the first period. He notched his first career point on Carter’s goal during the second.
And Rodrigues got another chance to skate with Malkin. That line, which featured Danton Heinen on the other wing, didn’t score but did threaten on a few occasions. Rodrigues got a late empty-netter for just his second goal in 27 games.
There was an unexpected change on the blue line, too. Matheson returned from an upper-body injury and stepped into Brian Dumoulin’s spot on the top pair next to Kris Letang. Dumoulin was surprisingly out with a non-COVID illness.
Matheson made his presence felt right away. He was active as ever and late in the first period took a pass from Crosby and snapped a shot inside the right post. With eight goals this season, Matheson is two shy of his single-season high.
The Penguins dominated that period, with 14 shots from the slot with just one for the Golden Knights. They also had four odd-man rushes, per Sportlogiq.
It carried over into the second. Carter followed up a rebound 2:36 into the period to make it 2-0. It was his first goal since Feb. 10. Seconds earlier, Puustinen made a quick read and accurate pass to spring Brock McGinn on a breakaway.
But the Golden Knights tied it with goals from Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo four minutes apart, with the Crosby line on the ice for both. Tristan Jarry had to stop Jonathan Marchessault on a breakaway later to keep the score even.
Early in the third period, Friedman joined the rush, pulled in a pass from Brian Boyle and picked his corner on Laurent Brossoit — Jarry’s former junior hockey teammate. The blue-liner’s first goal of the season put the Penguins back up, 3-2.
Teddy Blueger and Co. killed a pair of penalties in the third to make it hold up. Then Rust scored an insurance goal on the power play with 5:11 remaining.
The Penguins on Sunday will host the Carolina Hurricanes at PPG Paints Arena. They have lost both matchups against the Metropolitan Division’s top team.
