Justin Brazeau hat trick powers Penguins blitz of Blackhawks
Justin Brazeau notched a hat trick, Bryan Rust scored twice, and Anthony Mantha had a goal and assist to boost the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins to a 7-3 rout of the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Pittsburgh seized control with an explosive first period, beating Chicago goaltender Spencer Knight with four of its first seven shots in the opening 12:03.
Idle since Tuesday, the Penguins won for the second time in three games following an 0-4-4 stretch.
Chicago fell to 1-7 in its past eight games.
Rust appeared to have the early inside track to a hat trick, scoring twice during the barrage that chased Knight from the game in favor of Arvid Soderblom, who helped the Blackhawks to a shootout victory in Dallas on Saturday.
Just out of the penalty box, Rust extended the Pittsburgh advantage to 4-0 with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno spoiled the shutout bid of Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs at 10:50 of the second period. Activated from injured reserve before the game, Foligno was in the lineup for the first time since sustaining a left-hand injury on Nov. 15.
He put the Blackhawks on the board and cut the deficit to 4-1 after corralling a Colton Dach rebound in front of the net and backhanding it past Silovs.
Brazeau needed just 2:27 to secure his first career hat trick and extend the Pittsburgh advantage to five goals. With the Penguins on the power play, Brazeau took a pass down low off the draw, rushed the net and beat Soderblom with a backhand.
He scored his third goal of the night on a tip-in 57 seconds later.
Chicago answered with a Wyatt Kaiser goal 13 seconds after that, as a Kaiser shot ricocheted off the end boards, off Silovs and into the net.
Noel Acciari made it 7-2 at 18:48 of the second, burying a rebound off a puck that bounced off the end boards.
The Blackhawks' Tyler Bertuzzi capped the scoring in the final second of the game.
Knight returned to the crease for the third period. He stopped five of nine shots while Soderblom made 12 saves on 15 shots.
Silovs had 21 saves on 24 shots.
Ryan Shea earned three assists for Pittsburgh while Blake Lizotte and Jack St. Ivany had two each.