RALEIGH, N.C. -- On one of the stranger days in franchise history, on a day in which the Penguins made a blockbuster trade only to have it rejected by the NHL and then have to rework it so that not one but two valued members were sent packing, they still managed to do what they've done best lately.
They won.
Phil Kessel scored twice, and he, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel all put up three points as the Penguins throttled the Hurricanes 6-1, Friday night at PNC Arena. It was their largest margin of victory all season, it extended their winning streak to six, and it pushed them back atop the Metropolitan Division at 36-22-4.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOAnd they did it without Ian Cole and Ryan Reaves, who were dealt to the Senators and Golden Knights, respectively, in a three-way trade that brought Derick Brassard from Ottawa.
And they did it seven hours after news of the original trade broke.
Gee, much of a distraction?
"It was interesting leading up to the pregame meeting, for obvious reasons," Mike Sullivan would say after the game. "The rumor mill was going crazy with social media and, as I said to the players before, we can only control what’s within our control. We all understand the anxiety that surrounds the trade deadline. We’ve all been through it. It's a reality of our business. It's a part of what we sign up for. You just have to handle it the right way."
Kessel, maybe the player who stands the most to gain by the acquisition of Brassard should the latter be assigned to his third line, was simply brilliant, not just with the goals but also in setting up Guentzel for this layup to open the scoring:
He then whipped home two of his own:
And Riley Sheahan, who might be replaced by Brassard, isn't going into that dark goodnight. He had an assist and set a quality pick in front on the above sequence.
"I don’t think because we've acquired Derick Brassard that it diminishes what Riley Sheahan has meant or brought to our team," Sullivan said. "This guy is a good player. We feel as though we addressed as a team, we addressed a need, and we really like the depth we have at the center ice position with the guys we have."
No one with the team had any word late Friday night as to when Brassard might arrive. The Penguins play Saturday night in Florida against the Panthers, then have a travel day Sunday, then resume practicing Monday, so it seems most likely he’d join the team at that time. Players on Canadian-based NHL teams often need extra time for immigration issues.
