Crosby scores twice, but Penguins fall 5-3 to Blackhawks

Sidney Crosby did his part Tuesday night, but the rest of the Penguins could not keep up. He scored twice, but Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and an assist and led the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the United Center. The Penguins fell to 3-3-1, with a 1-2-1 record on the road. The Blackhawks improved to 2-5-0, and 2-1-0 at home. Read more: Crosby scores twice, but Penguins fall 5-3 to Blackhawks.

Pittsburgh outshot Chicago 27-20 but could not solve Spencer Knight. He had 24 saves, while Sergei Murashov stopped 15 of 19 shots for the Penguins.

A bad start

The Blackhawks scored 28 seconds into the game. Teravainen finished a play set up by rookie Anton Frondell and Tyler Bertuzzi. The Penguins were chasing from the opening faceoff.

Crosby answered with his first goal of the season. Erik Karlsson found him and picked up his sixth assist of the season to help tie it 1-1.

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The Blackhawks regained the lead at the tail end of the first period. Kris Letang was in the box for interference, and Chicago capitalized on the power play. Roman Kantserov scored on the power play, and Connor Bedard picked up his first assist of the season in his season debut.

The power play goes cold

Pittsburgh had chances to take control. Chicago took four minor penalties, two of them by Bowen Byram. The Penguins went 0-for-4 on the power play. In a game decided by one goal before the empty-net goal, those empty power plays were the difference. They were great opportunities to take control on the road against a team struggling to find victories.

“We’re gonna continue to look at it,” head coach Dan Muse said when asked about the power play. “I think we can get ourselves longer than we have been, but it’s gonna be something that we’re gonna continue to evaluate.”

Kantserov scored again in the second to make it 3-1. Nick Robertson cut it to 3-2 near the end of the second period. Blake Lizotte and Karlsson assisted on the goal, giving Karlsson his second assist of the night.

Penguins let it slip away

Crosby tied it at 3-3 almost halfway through the final period for his second of the night, putting home a rebound set up by Connor Dewar and Samuel Girard.

The tie lasted about six minutes. Teravainen beat Murashov from a sharp angle for his second of the game to put Chicago back on top in front of 17,609 at the United Center. It was too much for the Penguins, and they failed to mount a comeback. Bertuzzi scored an empty-net goal with 10 seconds left to give the Blackhawks a 5-3 victory.

Up next

Pittsburgh returns to action on Friday as they take on the Colorado Avalanche. The game starts at 9 p.m. ET at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.

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