Letang's historic show sets grand stage for 7-0 slaughter of Islanders

ELMONT, N.Y. -- The Penguins' game coming out of the holiday break a year ago was one of the ugliest losses of the season. It was on the same day, in the same building -- a Dec. 27 meeting with the Islanders here at UBS Arena. They were never really in the game, but a total second-period collapse put the game out of reach and they lost by four. That game wasn't nearly as close as the score might have suggested.

Once again, the Penguins made the trip out to Long Island for their first game after the break. And once again, it was a completely lopsided performance. But this time, the Penguins were on the right side of things. A night of milestones propelled the Penguins to a 7-0 blowout over the Islanders, none bigger than Kris Letang's six-point night -- a record-setting performance in more ways than one:

• Letang tied a couple NHL records that had stood untouched for decades. The Penguins opened the scoring Wednesday with a wild six goals in the second period from Rickard Rakell, Jake Guentzel (2), Evgeni Malkin (2) and Radim Zohorna. Letang assisted on all but Rakell's, racking up two primary assists and three secondary assists. It was only the second time in NHL history that a player had five assists in a single period, with the other being Dale Hawerchuk with the original Winnipeg Jets in a 7-3 win over the Kings on March 6, 1984. That makes Letang the first defenseman ever to rack up five assists in a single period.

Letang wasn't done yet. He had the primary helper on Valtteri Puustinen's first NHL goal in the third period, bringing his assist total for the game to six. That tied the NHL record for assists in a single game by a defenseman, making him the seventh defenseman to do so and the first since 1986:

Letang also set an NHL record for the quickest time span to record six assists in a game, per Stats Perform. Letang's assists came in a span of 19:33, shattering the previous record to six assists of 30:17, set by Wayne Gretzky on Feb. 15, 1980.

Letang's six assists also tied the Penguins franchise record for assists by any player in a single game. He joined fellow defenseman Ron Stackhouse and forwards Greg Malone and Mario Lemieux as Penguins players to accomplish the feat, with the latter doing it four times.

"It seems like one of those nights that everybody seems to score every time I gave it to them," Letang said. "It was pretty special. When you have a chance to play with good players, they're not the hardest plays to make. But you give it to the right guy, sometimes they score and you get the assist."

• Letang's partner, Marcus Pettersson, had quite a night himself. He had four assists, secondary helpers on goals by Rakell, Guentzel, Malkin and Puustinen. That's a new single-game career high. His previous single-game career high in points was three, set twice during the 2021-22 season.

"I had good players around me," Pettersson said. "I think it was a few second assists, so we'll take those. You just try to get pucks through. Good plays by Tanger on a couple of them. We as a pair had a good night. We were on our toes, but we didn't play that risky. We skated well today."

Pettersson's been on quite a tear recently -- he had two-assist nights against the Wild on Dec. 18 and the Senators on Dec. 23, giving him eight points in his last four games. For a guy who is primarily known for his good defensive play, that's even more exceptional.

• Malkin moved up the rankings with his two-goal night. Those goals were the 483rd and 484th of his career, tying and then passing his childhood favorite player Sergei Fedorov for the second-most goals by a Russian-born player in NHL history. He already surpassed Fedorov's point total (1,180) to rank second on the all-time points list last season. Alex Ovechkin, obviously, ranks first in both goals and points.

• Guentzel's goals came 12 seconds apart in the middle frame. He scored first at 10:15, leading Islanders coach Lane Lambert to use his timeout. Guentzel then scored on a breakaway at 10:27. Only two players have scored two goals faster for the Penguins in franchise history, and he's the first to do it in 12 seconds or less since Martin Straka, who scored two in seven seconds on Feb. 11, 2000.

"It's timely," Mike Sullivan said of Guentzel's two quick goals. "Anytime you have those types of situations, before or after goals are scored on either side, timeouts are taken, there are opportunities for momentum to change or to build. When Jake scores that (second) one, that was a huge one as far as building the momentum that we already established.

• No better way to cap off the win than to see Puustinen get his first NHL goal. The guy deserves it and worked hard to get here. He went undrafted in his first year eligible back in 2018, and then the Penguins nabbed him in the seventh round, No. 203 overall, in 2019. I first wrote a full feature about him back in 2020, back when he was still playing in Finland and spoke no English. Just to talk to him I had to reach out to his Finnish team, send questions to Puustinen in writing, then wait a week or two while Puustinen enlisted a teammate with a better grasp of English -- coincidentally then-Penguins prospect Emil Larmi -- to help him get back to me. His talent was even more obvious watching how quickly he adapted to the North American game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton when he came over in 2021, with that lethal one-timer from the left circle (what he calls "my spot") being pretty fun to watch. To see Puustinen make it to the NHL, score using that one-timer in that spot, and then be able to talk to him (in English!) after was a real full-circle moment.

"We're thrilled for Puusty," Sullivan said. "You could see the enthusiasm when he scored. To get that first one, he'll never forget that as long as he lives. And it was a real nice one on top of it. I think there's a lot more to come from him, I really like his game. I think he's a good offensive player, he sees the ice well, and he can score. That was on display on that goal. To one-time the puck like that on a pass like that across the ice is not an easy thing to do. He labeled that one. That's an indication of what he's capable of. We're excited for him, that's one he'll never forget, and we're hoping it's one of many here moving forward."

Puustinen was still beaming long after the final buzzer.

"I have so many dreams," he said. "This is one."

That goal from Puustinen might have been Letang's favorite of his six assists, too.

"It's always fun when you're the guy that sets up a first NHL goal," Letang said. "I think Sid has all of them. It's cool. It's a special moment for the player, and you saw in his face how special it was, how happy he was."

Puustinen was playing on a line with Zohorna for the first time in the NHL regular season, though the two had extensive time (and success) together at the AHL level and in the NHL training camp. They're close off the ice, and always joking around in the locker room or between drills at practices. Zohorna, of course, was the first one to make a beeline to the puck after Puustinen scored to collect it for his friend. It's the least he could do, especially after Puustinen set up Zohorna for a goal off a rebound earlier in the game:

I talked with both Puustinen and Zohorna that morning about being reunited on a line together, and both seemingly anticipated a night like this.

"I'm really excited," Puustinen told me before the game of playing with Zohorna. "I have a good feeling about this. We played together in this training camp for two games, and we played good and scored. I hope we do the same today."

"He has a good hockey IQ," Zohorna said of Puustinen. "He can help us hanging onto pucks a bit more, go to the net. I think it'll be good for us."

Narrator: It was.

• All of the offense will surely overshadow the goaltending in this one, but Tristan Jarry deserves props too. That was a 22-save shutout, moving him past Thatcher Demko and Connor Ingram for sole possession of the most shutouts in the league this season with four. It only took him 23 games to reach four shutouts, the third-fastest to hit four in one season in Penguins history. He is narrowly beaten by Johan Hedberg (four shutouts in 19 games in 2001-02) and Marc-Andre Fleury (four shutouts in 16 games in 2014-15).

Not a bad way to come back for Jarry, who got his first start since he was pulled Dec. 16 against the Maple Leafs. Between Alex Nedeljkovic getting the next three starts and then the holiday break, it was a bit of time off for Jarry.

"Working with (goaltending coach Andy Chiodo), that really helps for the week that I wasn't playing," Jarry said. "For my game, it helps when you're able to get those practice days and that practice time, you don't get very much in the NHL season just with how many games we play. I think it's good sometimes that you get that break and it keeps you sharp."

• Hey, it was a record night for the home team, too. A seven-goal differential in a loss ties the Islanders' franchise record for the worst home loss ever, and it's the fifth time they've done it. The previous seven-goal losses were a 7-0 loss to the Flyers in 2012-13, and 8-1 losses to the Canucks in 2005-06, the Devils in 1990-91, and the Jets in 1988-89. With UBS Arena only being open since 2021, this was the worst loss ever in the new barn.

It was a historic night, and Sullivan had his hands full and had to put his reading glasses on to keep track of all the milestone pucks that came as a result:

A blowout win counts the same as any other win in the standings -- two points -- but this was a big two points, against a division opponent at that. The win improves the Penguins' record to 16-13-4, and their 36 points has them sitting just three points back of the Capitals for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference standings, and only five points behind the Islanders for second place in the tight Metropolitan Division standings.

But this game can be bigger than those two points in the standings moving forward. The NHL's holiday break is a sort of a "reset" on the season, with players coming back refreshed and with new energy after the few days off. This game was a heck of a way to set the tone for this new part of the season.

"We lost the last game going into the break," Letang said. "But when you come back and you're able to win a game against a division rival like this, and somebody you're chasing, it's huge. Getting some guys on the board -- a guy like Rakell who wants his confidence back, Jars has a shutout -- it's good for some guys to get going like this."

It's quite the opposite experience that the Penguins had this time and place last year coming out of the break. They're coming back out of the gate with momentum on their side this time. 

"Last year at this time, we weren't very good coming out of the break," Mike Sullivan said. "This was a very different experience for us. We'll take it. These are important points for us. We've got to continue to build on it."

GETTY

An Islanders fan holds up two fingers to congratulate Valtteri Puustinen on his two-point night Wednesday in Elmont, N.Y.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at UBS Arena:

1. Kris Letang, Penguins D
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins LW
3. Tristan Jarry, Penguins G

THE IN-GAME INJURIES

• Penguins: None

• Islanders: None

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Drew O'Connor
Radim Zohorna - Lars Eller - Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter

Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Ryan Graves - Erik Karlsson
John Ludvig - Chad Ruhwedel

And for Lane Lambert's Islanders:

Anders Lee - Bo Horvat - Mathew Barzal
Pierre Engvall - Brock Nelson - Kyle Palmieri
Simon Holmstrom - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Oliver Wahlstrom
Hudson Fasching - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck

Alexander Romanov - Noah Dobson
Samuel Bolduc - Robert Bortuzzo
Mike Reilly - Sebastian Aho

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins flew back to Pittsburgh after the game. They'll practice Thursday and Friday in Cranberry before a back-to-back at home to close out 2023. They'll host the Blues on Saturday and the Islanders for a rematch on Sunday.

THE MULTIMEDIA

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