Dominik Kahun would like to avoid another slump with the Penguins

How do you say “bad luck” in German?

“It’s actually tough to translate,” said Penguins forward Dominik Kahun, who grew up in Weiden, a city within Bavaria. “You can say ‘unglück’ or like ‘schlechtes glück.’”

However you vocalize it, Kahun had a lot of it through the first 11 games of his existence with the Penguins. Of the 17 shots he fired on net, not a single one entered the cage. That doesn’t even count the ones he put off posts or crossbars.

He just needed some viel glück for once.

He got about 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds of good fortune in the form of massive Stars goaltender Ben Bishop on Saturday.

After Bishop fumbled a puck exchange behind his own net, a forechecking Kahun jumped on it and immediately fed it to forward Sam Lafferty in the slot. Lafferty hurried a shot but a scrambling Bishop denied it. Bishop fell onto his considerable backside in hopes of smothering the puck and freezing it.

He failed to do so and it squirted free for Kahun, positioned to the right of the cage. Kahun jabbed in the easy goal — which proved to be a game-winner in a 3-0 road victory — and celebrated as if he scored in overtime of Game 7 in a postseason series.

“It was a matter of time because I felt in myself I had so many chances,” he said. “Just having that belief that I was going to score. It feels really good.

“I was just relieved that it finally went in.”

So were his teammates.

“Oh, it was awesome,” forward Jared McCann said. “He’s been working his (tail) off. It was frustrating to see that the pucks weren’t going in for him. Sometimes, that happens and you can’t really focus on it too much. But he stuck with it. He got a greasy one last game and hopefully the floodgates open.”

“He’s been playing really well in the last handful of games,” said forward Bryan Rust, himself no stranger to prolonged goal droughts. “He’s been getting a ton of chances. He got rolling with an ugly one. That’s the kind of things you’ve got to do when you’re in a slump.”

Kahun was still doing some things during his bout of goal-scoring futility, particularly with his passing.

He nearly set up defenseman Juuso Riikola for a game-tying power-play goal in a 3-0 home loss to the Vegas Golden Knights with a sharp seam pass. A stunning save by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury denied that would-be score, however.

“Not only did my goals (not) go in but the ones that I passed,” Kahun joked. “Somehow nothing went in. But I keep going.”

Kahun certainly hopes pucks will keep going into the net now that he’s gotten his first with the Penguins. At the same time, he acknowledges his history as a goal-scorer isn’t extensive. As a rookie with the Chicago Blackhawks last season, he had a modest 13 in 82 games. Throughout his professional career with Munich EHC of Germany’s DEL, he never scored more than 12 goals, albeit in a league where the regular season is only 52 games long.

“To be honest, I was never a big goal scorer,” said Kahun, who had 24 assists with Chicago in 2018-19. “I always had more assists than goals. I’m more of a passer. But of course, goals are always nice. You want to get as many as possible.”

“He’s doing well regardless if it’s goals, assists,” McCann said. “I don’t personally look at points as making you out to be a good player or not. There’s a lot of good players in the NHL who don’t put up points. They do other things. And he’s done that for us.”

Of course, Kahun would like to avoid a similar slump before scoring his second goal with the Penguins.

“Obviously, you think about it a little,” Kahun said. “I try not to, but of course it’s in your head when you still don’t have a goal and you have so many chances. I just try my best all the time. It was just a matter of time until it goes in.”

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