Penguins too much for Coyotes

PITTSBURGH -- It's difficult to imagine the Pittsburgh Penguins elevating their recent play further, but they might have Monday.
Matt Murray made 32 saves and seven players scored in the Penguins' 7-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes at PPG Paints Arena.

Sidney Crosby, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley and Bryan Rust each scored in the second period after Scott Wilson gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the first. Phil Kessel and Justin Schultz scored in the third period.
WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Penguins highlights
The Penguins (19-7-3) have scored 35 goals during their six-game winning streak.
"I thought we played hard," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "Coming off an emotional game against [the Tampa Bay Lightning], I thought we came back with a strong effort, with a lot of energy, with just playing the game the right way consistently. That's the type of identity we're trying to build here."
Murray earned his fourth consecutive win and is 11-2-0 this season. He is 20-4-1 with three shutouts in the regular season since entering the NHL last season.

"They played a hard game," Murray said. "I know they have a lot of youth in that group, so they played hard. I think we just showed that the way we play, we can dominate anybody if we're playing our best. So, they played us real hard.
"It was a pretty tight game, I thought, throughout the first half of the game. Then after that, we just opened it up."
The Coyotes (9-14-5) have lost seven of their past eight games (1-4-3). Mike Smith allowed four goals on 22 shots before being replaced by Louis Domingue, who made nine saves.

"They're struggling at their execution," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "There's a standard you have to play to in the NHL, whether you're a young guy or a veteran. We didn't play or compete at an NHL level tonight. That's the score you get and that's where we're at."
Wilson gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead 8:40 into the first. He sent a wrist shot from the top of the left circle past a moving screen by Tom Kuhnhackl and Smith's glove.
After the Penguins failed to capitalize on a power play early in the second period, Bonino scored 33 seconds after it expired to make it 2-0 at 4:30.
Daley gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead at 6:58 and Bryan Rust pushed it to 4-0 at 8:30 before Smith was pulled.

Crosby, who leads the NHL with 21 goals in 23 games, made it 5-0 on a power play with 4:47 remaining in the second.
Kessel extended it to 6-0 at 1:20 of the third period and Schultz scored with 7:34 remaining.
After taking a stick to the face from Martin Hanzal, Crosby temporarily left the game with three seconds remaining in the first period. He returned shortly after the second period began.

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Goal of the game

Crosby scored the Penguins' fifth goal after a slap shot from Evgeni Malkin deflected off Domingue's blocker and the right post. Crosby took a baseball-like swing at the airborne puck to send a shot past Domingue, extending his goal streak to four games and his point streak to eight.

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Save of the game

Domingue kept the Penguins lead at 4-0 when Chris Kunitz had a solid scoring chance with 8:45 remaining in the second period. After gathering a pass from Bonino, Kunitz sent a wrist shot toward the upper-left corner of the net, but was denied by a glove save.

Highlight of the game

A turnover helped set up Pittsburgh's second goal. Oliver Ekman-Larsson received a pass from Hanzal and attempted a return feed that slipped between Hanzal's legs to Bonino, who took a wrist shot for his fourth goal of the season.

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Unsung performance of the game

Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta had one assist, but was most effective in the defensive end, where he had four hits and three blocked shots.

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They said it

"We try to play the right way and eventually, we kind of got some turnovers there in the second. Once we got a lead there, we were able to kind of play our game." -- Penguins forward Sidney Crosby
"We have to be way better than how we just played. … I think we have to learn from this, learn that every team is good in this league and you can't take any nights off, no matter who you're playing." -- Coyotes defenseman Michael Stone

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Need to know

Forward Josh Jooris played 8:46 in his Coyotes debut after being claimed off waivers from the New York Rangers on Sunday. … The Penguins started Murray for a third consecutive game after starting Fleury the previous three. Murray replaced Fleury with the Penguins trailing 4-2 at 7:08 of the second period of an 8-5 win against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 5.

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What's next

Coyotes: At the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Penguins: Host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)