Artemi Panarin likes playing Pittsburgh, and it doesn’t matter where.
The Chicago Blackhawks rookie recorded his second multi-goal game in has many nights to lead Chicago to a 3-1 win over the Penguins on Wednesday night at United Center.
Panarin’s two goals moved him pass Detroit Red Wings‘ Dylan Larkin for the most goals by a rookie this season at 15. The Russian winger leads all rookies in points with 38 – no other first-year player has more than 28.
Panarin’s first goal came 15:38 into the first period, and the second broke a tie at 8:56 into the third.
The #BreadMan makes it 1-0! #CHIvsPIT pic.twitter.com/xcgcbSmfnR
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 7, 2016
What. A. Release. #CHIvsPIT pic.twitter.com/r2muGvmseN
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 7, 2016
Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-netter with less than two minutes to go.
Turbo made that look easy. #CHIvsPIT pic.twitter.com/YDyZNcZ1Yy
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 7, 2016
Artem Anisimov and Patrick Kane recorded assists on Panarin’s first goal. Kane’s assist extends his point lead over the rest of the league to 60 (23 goals and 37 assists).
Evgeni Malkin scored the lone Penguins tally off a feed from Phil Kessel.
With 40 seconds remaining, Kris Letang took a run at Panarin but Jonathan Toews took exception and went after Letang. Both players were sent off with 34 seconds. Letang recorded an assist on Malkin’s goal, while Toews won nine of 20 on faceoffs with three shots on net.
Scott Darling stopped 17 of 18 shots for his third win of the season. Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves in the loss.
Chicago has won 12 of its past 16 games to improve to 25-13-4 on the season. The Hawks are in second place in the Central Division, sitting six points behind the Dallas Stars for the lead. Chicago hosts the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.