(AP) — Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, Joel Blomqvist made 29 saves in his NHL debut and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Thursday night.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, each with two assists, figured in four of the six goals as the Penguins rebounded from season-opening 6-0 home loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
Marcus Pettersson, Erik Karlsson, Kevin Hayes and Drew O’Connor also scored for Pittsburgh.
Alex DeBrincat scored twice for the Red Wings in their opener. Vladimir Tarasenko added a goal.
Takeaways
Penguins: With his two assists, Crosby has eight multi-point games in his last 11 against the Red Wings. In 22 career games against Detroit, the Pittsburgh captain has accounted for 18 goals and 28 assists. Pittsburgh is 10-2-2 in the last 14 games against the Red Wings and 5-2 in the last seven at Detroit.
Red Wings: Goaltender Ville Husso was pulled at 5:28 of the second period after allowing four goals on 14 shots. He failed to finish his final two starts of the 2023-24 season due to lower-body injuries. Husso’s last 60-minute game came Dec. 14 in a 2-1 loss to Carolina. Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry left the game in the second period due to an upper-body injury.
Key moment
Tied 1-1 entering the second period, the Penguins scored three goals in a span of 2:28 early in the second period to take control.
Key stat
The defense improvements the Red Wings were promising weren’t on exhibit in their opener. Last season, they gave up four or more goals in 39 of 82 games.
Up next
Penguins: At Toronto on Saturday night.
Red Wings: Host Nashville on Saturday night.
