Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 win against the Golden Knights:

Jim Rutherford knows he can’t replace Jake Guentzel.

He said that precisely on Monday.

But he can fill in the gaps, particularly on the left wing, the position Guentzel topped on the organizations’ depth chart before his right shoulder injury all but ended his season.

That will allow Rutherford flexibility in looking at the other forward positions on the trade market as the trade deadline approaches on Feb. 24.

All that versatility among the forwards Rutherford has seemingly emphasized since becoming general manager makes the loss of Guentzel easier to work around.

One of those players who can pick up some of the slack - certainly not all of it - for Guentzel is Dominik Kahun.

He showed that in this road win against the Golden Knights by picking up a power-play goal and an even-strength assist.

Management didn’t seem to know what to do with Kahun during training camp or even in the first month of the season. And even as his offense began to pick up in late October, he was kind of moved around the lineup as injuries created needs on different lines.

Now, Guentzel’s injury makes Kahun one of the team’s top two left wingers. Presumably, Jared McCann will get consideration on the left wing as well once Sidney Crosby and Nick Bjugstad return to the lineup and fill out the center position.

Kahun isn’t nearly as complete of a player as Guentzel. And who is? Guentzel is an all-star after all. But Kahun is adequate.

The 24-year-old from Germany is probably more of a Conor Sheary-type than Guentzel’s caliber. He’s shown he can play with top tier players as was the case with the Blackhawks last season when, as a rookie, he skated alongside All-Stars Jonathan Toews and Brandon Saad. He won’t offer you much as a net-front entity the way Guentzel does in terms of tipping pucks or taking punishment, but Kahun finds ways to get open near the net and create scoring opportunities.

Kahun’s time with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin has been scant. But he’ll likely have be the left winger for one of those two the final three-plus months of the regular season and beyond.

What happened

The Penguins opened the scoring at 2:53 of the first period. Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt forced a bad pass from his own zone which was intercepted by Malkin in the neutral zone. Malkin fed the pass to Kahun on the left wing. From the half wall, Kahun slid the puck towards the crease. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made the initial save and then the puck pinballed off of Penguins forward Bryan Rust crashing into the crease from the right wing. Fleury punched the rebound out with his blocker to the slot where Malkin was able one-touch it with a backhander off the cross bar and into the cage. A crazy play for Malkin’s 12th goal of the season. Rust and Kahun had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

They doubled the lead at the 7:10 mark of the first. Penguins forward Jared McCann beat Golden Knights forward Paul Stastny cleanly on a draw in the left circle of the Vegas zone and got the puck back to defenseman Kris Letang at the left point. Letang then fed a “D-to-D” pass to the right point where defenseman Jack Johnson clapped a one-timer on net. Fleury made the initial save but Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist beat Schmidt to the rebound and swept a forehand past Fleury’s left skate for his 10th goal. Johnson and Letang collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 3-0 contest at 4:18 of the second period. Towards the end of a mostly poor effort on a power-play opportunity for the Penguins, defenseman Juuso Riikola settled a puck at the left point and fed it to the right point for defenseman John Marino. Slinking up the right boards, Marino centered a choppy pass to the slot. The puck hit off of Golden Knights defenseman Nick Holden’s stick then Kahun’s left shin. Kahun was able to settle the puck then shuffled a backhander through Fleury’s five hole. It was Kahun’s 10th goal of the season. Marino and Riikola collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Golden Knights got on the scoreboard at the 7:11 mark of the second. Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese made a poor backhand pass off his own right half wall to the center point which was intercepted by Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague. Hague fired a wrister which Letang blocked with his chest in the high slot. The rebound plopped down on the ice and Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty whistled a wrister through a forest of bodies and over goaltender Tristan Jarry’s right shoulder for his 19th goal. Hague had the lone assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Vegas cashed in on a power-play opportunity at 14:18 of the second after Johnson was called for tripping Golden Knights center William Karlsson. Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel blocked a shot in the left circle and was hobbled a bit. Golden Knights forward Mark Stone claimed the rebound and fed it to defenseman Shea Theodore at center point. Settling the puck, Theodore lifted a floating wrister towards the cage. Stastny leaned in from the left circle and deflected the puck with his stick past Jarry’s glove hand on the far side. Theodore and forward Mark Stone had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins restored a two-goal lead, 4-2, 2:15 into the third period. Lugging a puck out of his own left corner, Letang snapped a pass up the offensive right wing for forward Brandon Tanev. Tanev zipped by a flat-footed Hague, cut across the crease, avoided Fleury’s patented poke check and tucked a forehand shot past Fleury’s left skate for his ninth goal. Letang and forward Teddy Blueger collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Undeterred, the Golden Knights would not go away and made it a 4-3 contest at the 12:45 mark of the third. From the left point, Schmidt rimmed a puck around the left corner to Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephenson behind the net. As Letang approached, Stephenson sneaked a backhand pass to the left of the cage where Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith had a step on Johnson and chopped at the puck, causing it to flutter into the cage past the blocker of an unsuspecting Jarry on the near side. Assists went to Stephenson and Schmidt.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Golden Knights controlled shots, 35-16.

• Pacioretty led the game with nine shots.

• Rust led the Penguins with three shots.

• Letang led the game with 26:19 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• Theodore led the Golden Knights with 26:01 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• The Penguins had a 33-30 edge in faceoffs (52 percent).

• Malkin was 13 for 20 (65 percent).

• Stastny was 13 for 25 (52 percent).

• Johnson, Tanev, Rust, Letang, Ruhwedel as well as Golden Knights defensemen Deryk Engelland and Brayden McNabb each led the game with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins a road game against the Golden Knights for the first time in franchise history. They were 0-2-0 previously. Their last “first win” on the road was a 4-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild, Oct. 30, 2007. Goaltender Dany Sabourin made 28 saves in the victory.

• The Penguins’ 16 shots were the fewest ever allowed by the Golden Knights in a loss.

• Hornqvist (248 points) surpassed former forward Pascal Dupuis (247) for 34th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

(Note: Hornqvist had an assist taken away due to a scoring change following Sunday’s 4-1 home loss to the Florida Panthers. So this is the “second time” he’s passed up Dupuis this week.)

• Rust (149 points) surpassed former forward Dave Hannan (148) for 61st place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Malkin (1,042 points) surpassed former Canucks forward Daniel Sedin (1,041) for 73rd place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• The Golden Knights remain one of two active NHL franchises the Penguins have never shut out. The Wild is the other.

• Letang recorded his 400th (and 401st) career assist.

• Coach Mike Sullivan won his 200th game with the Penguins.

Randomly speaking

• It’s probably safe to say the Penguins were beneficiaries of Fleury not being at his best in this game. Four goals on 16 shots? Woof.

• The Penguins snapped an 0-10 slump on the power play over the past four games. That was their first power-play goal since Jake Guentzel left the lineup.

• Malkin took a tripping minor at 17:17 of the third period. He has taken penalties in six of his past seven games. Before this skid, he had penalties in only five of the first 23 games he had played.

• Letang bounced back after a rough outing against the Panthers on Sunday. Beyond his two assists, he was very sturdy defensively and played a clean game without nary a trace of an error.

• Penguins forward Andrew Agozzino played his second game of the season a day after being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Primarily centering the fourth line, he logged 9:48 of ice time on 15 shifts, including 1:35 with the second power-play squad. He had one blocked shot and was 1 for 3 on faceoffs (33 percent).

• Agozzino’s first game, a 2-1 home win against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 10, saw him skate only 1:44 on five shifts.

• That Stephenson-Smith play was very reminiscent of the goals Lightning forwards Dominic Moore and Sean Bergenheim scored against the Penguins in their 2011 first-round postseason series.

Publicly speaking

• Speaking with reporters in Las Vegas, Sullivan was a bit hesitant to laud his team’s overall effort in the win. After all, they kept allowing the Golden Knights to creep back into the game:

“I don’t know that we ever put our foot on the gas. We got two quick goals and sometimes when you get up that early in the game, there’s so much hockey left. You know (the other) team is going to respond, especially a team that’s as good as Vegas is. We got on our heels a little bit. We don’t want to be on our heels as often as we were tonight.”

• Tanev gave props to goaltending coach Mike Buckley for a scouting report to avoid Fleury’s poke check on his goal:

“He’s an aggressive goalie. Our goaltending coach gives us a great job of giving us a prescout. I was fortunate to make a move and wait him out and the puck went in.”

• Sullivan was high on Letang’s game:

“He cares so much. He’s so invested in helping the Penguins win and he wants to be at his best. He was really good tonight.”

• Fleury took blame for the loss:

“We created some chances. I just let in too many goals and it cost us the game.”

• Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant took his team to task:

“Pittsburgh’s got a lot of injuries over there, they’ve got a real good team. They compete, they battle hard. That’s why they’re still winning because their guys that got called up from all the injuries, they’re battling and competing. Our guys just weren’t ready for that tonight.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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