The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the visiting Arizona Coyotes 6-2 on Thursday to kick off their 2022-23 NHL season. Leading the team’s offense was veteran Canadian center Sidney Crosby, who secured a single goal in the first period and wrapped up the game with two assists. Dominating over the visiting Coyotes at home, the 35-year-old also left the rink with a whopping seven shots on goals.
“I think we were just playing on our toes. First game of the year, at home. I think guys were excited to get going, and you could tell we had a lot of jump,” Crosby, who is in his 18th season with the team, said.
Russian center Evgeni Malkin, who signed a four-year, $24.4 million contract extension in July, and Canadian defenseman Kris Letang, who agreed to a six-year, $36.6 million extension in the same month, also displayed remarkable performances. Malkin hit a single goal and Letang recorded two assists for the Pens.
“Most of these guys have been together for a while now,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of familiarity on the lines … I just think the fact we have some stability and continuity in our group helps from a chemistry standpoint. There’s a lot of familiarity.”
Dominating over Coyotes
The Penguins’ defense worked out well in the game, but the Coyotes managed to score one goal each in the second and third periods after going scoreless in the first, with Canadian goaltender Tristan Jarry successfully defending Pittsburgh’s net from 26 goal attempts.
Assisting Crosby in the first period were left winger Jason Zucker and center Jake Guentzel. Zucker scored a few minutes after Crosby, and Guentzel quickly followed suit.
The Coyotes bounced back in the remaining two periods after forward Nick Ritchie’s two goals in each of the periods. However, Malkin, right winger Bryan Rust and forward Kasperi Kapanen put an end to Ritchie’s desperate power play to extend Pittsburgh’s lead, sealing the win with a margin-wide score of 6-2.
“Geno had Geno’s best game tonight, I thought,” Sullivan said of Malkin. “He had the puck all night long.”
“They get the crowd going, the towels are flying. It’s definitely not the right team to spot them three. But we came back and had a decent effort. It wasn’t great, by any means, but we fought back a little bit. I guess we’ll take something from it,” Ritchie said.
Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny said his men were panicking during the game, adding that the team was not “mentally engaged enough.”
“The start we had, that’s what hurt us. We weren’t mentally engaged enough. We got better during the game, never quit, came back and worked hard. But need to find a way to get out of the gate with more urgency mentally. … We need to be way more stingy defensively. [Vejmelka] was unbelievable tonight. So we need to work on our identity,” Tourigny said.
Up next, the Penguins will play the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 15, and on the same date, the Coyotes will visit the Boston Bruins, Unibet Arizona has yet to set a line on the game.