Penguins give up 3 goals late in loss to Golden Knights

Allowing a trio of scores in the third period, the Pittsburgh Penguins were defeated by the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 26 saves on 29 shots in the defeat, which dropped his record to 12-13-4.

The Penguins were outshot 11-5 in the third period.

“We didn’t defend hard enough,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to the Associated Press in Las Vegas. “All three of the goals were just seemingly nothing plays that ended up at the back of our net. We had numbers back. We’ve got to defend harder and we’ve got to have some predictability with how we defend. We didn’t have it.”

An unlikely source supplied the game’s first lead when Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves scored his third goal at 9:02 of the second period.

From the center point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson offloaded the puck to the left half wall for Graves, who then embarked on something of an uncharted course – for him at least – as he sauntered through the near circle and drifted to the left of the cage. From there, Graves played the puck into the crease where it clunked off the back of goaltender Logan Thompson’s left leg and bounced into the cage. Karlsson and forward Evgeni Malkin had assists.

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel’s 20th goal put the Penguins up by a pair at 14:01 of the second frame.

Corralling a puck at the right point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson dished it to the near half-wall for forward Sidney Crosby, who then on-touched a pass to Guentzel above the right circle. Moving toward the faceoff dot, Guentzel gripped and ripped a wrister by Thompson’s glove on the far side. Penguins forward Colin White supplied an effective screen on the sequence. Crosby and Pettersson claimed assists.

The hosts got on the scoreboard 5:18 into the third period via forward Jonathan Marchessault’s 20th goal.

From the left half-wall of the Penguins’ zone, Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez chucked a wrister toward the cage. Traversing through the left circle, forward Ivan Barbashev deflected the puck on net and was denied by Jarry’s left leg. The puck deflected to the top of the crease where Marchessault fended off a tumbling Pettersson and cleaned up the rebound with a forehand shot. Assists went to Barbarshev and Martinez.

Rookie forward Pavel Dorofyev’s sixth goal tied the game 2-2 at 6:52 of the final period.

Surging up the left wing of the offensive zone, Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephensen dipped below the goal line and slipped a forehand pass between Pettersson’s legs to the top of the crease. Dorofyev accepted the puck and roofed a wrister over Jarry’s glove. Stephenson and forward Mark Stone had assists.

Another rookie forward, Brendan Brisson, scored his first career goal at 9:40 of the third frame, and that proved to be the winning score.

After gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Barbashev turned his back to Karlsson to shield the puck then centered a pass to the high slot for Brisson, who whipped a wrister by Jarry’s blocker. Barbashev and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo tallied assists.

Brisson is the son of Crosby’s longtime agent Pat Brisson.

“Just to play against those guys was super special,” Brisson said to the Associated Press. “I was a little nervous before the game. In warmups, I was looking over at their end and looking at Sid, but it was awesome to get my first NHL goal against them.”

Notes:

• The Penguins’ power play was 0 for 1 and generated three shots.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill was busy and successful, going 4 for 4.

• Pettersson (110 points) surpassed forwards Wayne Bianchin and Petr Sykora as well as defensemen Jim Johnson and Paul Martin (109 each) for sole possession of 82nd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• The Penguins’ scratches were defenseman Ryan Shea (healthy) and forward Reilly Smith (undisclosed injury).

• The Golden Knights extended a winning streak to three games.