Kris Letang has 6 assists, 5 in 2nd period of Penguins’ win

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Dec 27, 2023, 11:06 PM ET

NEW YORK — Kris Letang had six assists — including five in the second frame alone, becoming the first defenseman in NHL history with five points in a period — as the Pittsburgh Penguins toppled the New York Islanders 7-0 on Wednesday night.

Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin each scored twice, and 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.

His six assists tied the most by a defensemen in a single game in NHL history, done six times before, most recently by Gary Suter in 1986 (April 4 vs. Oilers).

His six assists also tied a Penguins franchise record, previously done by Mario Lemieux (3 times), Greg Malone (1979) and Ron Stackhouse (1975).

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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…

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Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39194898/kris-letang-6-assists-including-5-second-period-penguins-win

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Publish date : 2023-12-28 04:08:47

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