No Rickard Rakell? No problem for Penguins in lopsided win against Kings

Andrew Destin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 21, 2025

Published in Hockey

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Facing the NHL’s second-stingiest defensive team without their leading scorer seemed like it would be a recipe for disaster for the Penguins.

Rickard Rakell missed his first game of the season, as coach Mike Sullivan told reporters in Los Angeles pregame that Rakell traveled back to Pittsburgh for “family reasons.” The Penguins compensated for Rakell’s absence by turning in one of their most impressive offensive performances of the season.

The Penguins raced out to an early lead and never looked back, ending Monday night with a 5-1 win against the Kings at Crypo.com Arena.

It was the Penguins’ power play, which has now produced in 10 of 14 games, that unsurprisingly put the visitors on the board first. The tally came courtesy of a suddenly regular contributor on the man advantage in Kevin Hayes, who made a sweet move to deke out a Los Angeles defenseman before netting his fourth power-play goal of the season, two shy of his career high.

Sidney Crosby pushed the Penguins advantage to two goals by the first intermission, and like Hayes benefitted from a fortuitous bounce. The captain deflected a one-timer from Matt Grzelcyk, and it somehow took a perfect one-hop past Kings goalie David Rittich for Crosby’s 13th goal of the season.

Evgeni Malkin then poured in his first goal of the month, which doubled as his ninth of the season. The 38-year-old centerman turned back the clock, single-handedly established some offensive zone time for his line and then wrapped a shot around Rittich.

The Kings, who had won nine straight games on home ice, charged back late in the second period, but only briefly. Los Angeles Adrian Kempe netted a power-play goal at 5-on-3, which was essentially nullified when Cody Glass scored with one minute left in the frame and killed any Kings momentum.

Anthony Beauvillier then all but ended any hopes of a Kings comeback with his 11th goal of the season a little under seven minutes into the third period.

Instead of the Penguins encountering difficulties with the Kings’ patented stifling defense, it was quite the opposite. The Penguins became one of just five teams to score at least five goals in a game against the Kings this season, and like all those squads earned a victory — even without Rakell in the lineup.

Ice chips

• With Rakell out, Beauvillier skated on Crosby’s line. Kris Letang also filled Rakell’s spot on the top power play unit. Glass slotted in for Beauvillier on Malkin’s line.

• Blake Lizotte, who played the first six seasons of his professional career with the Los Angeles Kings, returned to Crypto.com Arena for the first time since joining the Penguins over the offseason. Lizotte centered the Penguins’ fourth line.

• Pierre-Olivier Joseph returned to the lineup and played on the right side of the Penguins’ third pair. Joseph missed Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals due to illness. Owen Pickering moved to the left side of the third pair.

• With his first-period goal, Crosby notched his 18th season with at least 50 points. The captain also has 38 assists this year, which is tied for sixth-most in the NHL.

• Matt Nieto returned to the Penguins’ lineup after being a healthy scratch for their last three games. Ryan Shea and Ryan Graves, meanwhile, joined Rakell as the Penguins’ scratches.

• Goalie prospect Sergei Murashov was reassigned from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Monday. Murashov, one of the Penguins’ top prospects, is 15-3-1 with the Nailers this year.

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