Penguins chase Grubauer early, defeat Kraken

SEATTLE --Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 6-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

Jeff Carter scored twice, Danton Heinen had a goal and two assists, and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh (12-8-5), which has won two straight after losing its previous three. Casey DeSmith made 28 saves for his first win of the season.
"It feels great," DeSmith said. "Mentally, that was big for me to go out there and get a solid win, and obviously it was the definition of a team from start to finish. Kudos to everybody for making it easy on me and kind of getting my confidence going in the right direction. I think we've been doing a lot of good stuff from practice working on some things, and I felt pretty good."
Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle (9-14-2), which had its four-game point streak end. Philipp Grubauer allowed three goals on four shots before being replaced by Joey Daccord, who made 24 saves.
"We gave up three [goals] on the first four shots, that's indicative of the start of our team," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "I won't even speak to one individual's performance. Like I said, that's indicative of the start from our team. It's disappointing to come off of arguably our most complete game (a 4-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday) with that type of a start tonight.
"We'll go to work, and we'll work hard and practice. Turn the page by doing it that way. There's not a whole lot of talk that needs to be done about this. We got to go back to work. There's nothing hidden about this one."

Carter gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 1:47 of the first period when his cross-crease pass for Jason Zucker redirected in off the stick of Grubauer.
Crosby made it 2-0 at 4:42, jamming in a puck near the right post after a one-timer from Guentzel trickled through Grubauer. Crosby has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during a six-game point streak.
"I think the chances have been there last six or seven [games]," Crosby said. "Before they started going in, I think there's a lot of chances there. Hopefully, it keeps going that way. Obviously, [Guentzel] and [Evan Rodrigues] are doing some great things out there and making some plays. We just want to keep going no matter who's putting it in. It doesn't matter as long as it's going in."
Heinen chased Grubauer when he made it 3-0 at 5:07 with a shot glove side from the top of the right circle.
Eberle pulled the Kraken to within 3-1 at 3:43 of the second period, tapping in a cross-crease pass from Alex Wennberg during a delayed penalty.
However, Guentzel extended the lead to 4-1 at 18:31 on a 2-on-1 with Rodrigues, and Carter scored 23 seconds later to make it 5-1 when he knocked in a rebound with one hand on his stick off the shin pad of Jamie Oleksiak.
"Ideally, we wouldn't have given them some of the looks they got in the second," Crosby said. "You know that they're going to push, and when you get a lead like that, sometimes it's hard not to sit back. Casey made some great saves and just kind of allowed us to get that next one. We had a couple of good looks and they didn't go, but to get a couple late like that was a huge momentum swing."

Guentzel scored his second of the game to make it 6-1 at 8:29 of the third with a slap shot from the left circle after controlling a pass from Rodrigues with his left skate. He has scored 19 points (12 goals, seven assists) during his point streak, which is the longest active in the NHL.
"[Guentzel] has had some good runs, but now he's just doing everything so well," Crosby said. "He's finding different ways, whether it's going to the net, or you see his second goal tonight, that shot is just perfect. And he's just he's doing it all. So it's great to see that, and I want to keep it going."
NOTES:Guentzel also extended his season-opening road point streak to 12 games (10 goals, seven assists), the longest in Penguins history.