Blomqvist makes 29 saves in debut, Penguins defeat Red Wings

DETROIT -- Joel Blomqvist made 29 saves in his NHL debut, and Evgeni Malkin got his 800th assist to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

Anthony Beauvillier scored twice for the Penguins (1-1-0), who were coming off a 6-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday.

“I thought we played a much better team game tonight, but Joel made some key saves early that gave us a chance to stay in it,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He let us settle into the game and get the tying goal.”

Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson each had a goal and an assist, and Sidney Crosby and Malkin each had two assists.

“We faced some adversity right away, so it was nice to be able to play again tonight and get right back at it,” Crosby said. “I thought we were a lot hungrier around the net than we were last night.”

Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist, and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in his debut for Detroit (0-1-0). Ville Husso allowed four goals on 14 shots before being replaced early in the second period by Cam Talbot, who allowed two goals on 14 shots.

“It was one of those nights where we couldn’t sustain any momentum,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “We gave them some easy offense, and when you do that against a talented team, it will pile up on you.”

DeBrincat gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 3:46 of the first period, scoring with a one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Lucas Raymond.

The Red Wings outshot the Penguins 13-7 in the first period.

“It might help a little bit to be busy early, it gets you a feel for the puck,” Blomqvist said. “They were pressuring hard and I had to battle through it.”

Beauvillier tied it 1-1 at 15:02 of the first . He flipped the puck into the crease from below the goal line and it went in off Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot.

Beauvillier then gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 2:55 of the second period, putting in a centering pass from Pettersson in front.

Drew O'Connor made it 3-1 at 3:53 with a tap-in at the top of the crease off a feed from Malkin, who deked around multiple Detroit skaters as he carried the puck through the offensive zone.

Pettersson pushed it to 4-1 at 5:28 with a wrist shot from the left point, chasing Husso.

“We got away from that first period game we had, and pucks started going in,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “It felt like we were doing things right, but we had too many big-time breakdowns.”

Tarasenko pulled the Red Wings to within 4-2 at 12:32, scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Karlsson scored a power-play goal to make it 5-2 at 1:42 of the third, beating Talbot with a wrist shot from the left circle.

DeBrincat cut it to 5-3 at 8:13 with his own power-play goal, a one-timer below the left circle off a rebound.

Kevin Hayes responded for the Penguins with a snap shot from the bottom of the right circle to make it 6-3 at 12:21.

Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

NOTES: Malkin is the 34th NHL player to get 800 assists. He is also the third active player to reach the mark, and all three played in the game. Crosby has 1,006 and Red Wings forward Patrick Kane has 813. Malkin needs two more goals to reach 500 while Crosby needs two points for 1,600.