Pittsburgh got a five-goal loss at home to Florida, Connor Hellebuyck nullified San Jose’s scorer

The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered another bitter defeat at home, this time to the Florida Panthers, who they lost to 2:5. Connor Hellebuyck closed his goal against the San Jose Sharks and scored his 35th career clean sheet.

Florida dashes Pittsburgh’s hopes in the second period

Tristan Jarry played the entire game in goal for the home team, while Sergei Bobrovsky once again excelled in goal for the visitors. During the first period, both goalies didn’t have much to do. Each team produced only 4 shots on goal and went to the booths without any goals.

In the second period, however, things happened. First, Penguins forward Rickard Rakell scored on the power play after Evan Rodrigues was sent off, but the goal was disallowed and Bobrovsky kept his clean sheet. And then the Florida team struck, scoring 4 goals in 9 minutes against Jarry.

Tkachuk, Gadjovich, Ekbland and Lundell scored in succession. The player of the game Matthew Tkachuk was instrumental in three of the goals and had two assists. The scalded Penguins at least evened the game at 1:4 by the end of the period after Bryan Rust beat Bobrovsky.

However, Florida dashed the home team’s scoring hopes early in the third period when Anton Lundell beat Jarry for the second time in the game. Pittsburgh could only mitigate the debacle with a debut NHL goal by defenseman John Ludvig, whose second point of his overseas career.

In addition, the Penguins had one of their key forwards, Jake Guentzel, injured during the first period and withdrew from the game with an upper-body injury. Florida set a new club record by winning nine straight road games since December 27, confirming its position as one of the best teams this season.

Connor Hellebuyck closed out the scoring

In the Winnipeg Jets vs. San Jose Sharks (1:0), Hellebuyck needed just 17 hits to pick up his 3rd clean sheet of the year. It was the 35th time in his career that he has not scored a goal. Winnipeg confirmed its role as the favorite with a slim victory.

The game was decided in the 18th minute of the first period by Morgan Barron’s ninth goal of the season, the only time Kaapo Kahkonen cashed in, otherwise even 38 successful shots were not enough for the team to score, as the Sharks’ shooters were toothless against Helleybuyck.

Source: NHL