By: Justin Gincauskas
In the NHL’s return from Christmas break, we got to see something that has never happened before in league history. Kris Letang became the first defenseman to record five points in a single period, doing so with five assists in the second period of Pittsburgh’s 7-0 win over the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
Letang picked up one more assist in the third period to finish the game with six points. He is the first player in Penguins history to have five assists in a period.
The game was scoreless after one period of play, but the Penguins caught fire quickly in the second. Pittsburgh scored six goals in under 11 minutes to take a 6-0 lead into the third. Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist, while defenseman Marcus Pettersson picked up four assists.
“After a break, the first period is always ugly,” Kris Letang said after the game. “After that, once your legs get going, your hands are coming back, we took advantage offensively, played in their zone, putting pucks at the net. … When you come back and you are about to win a game against a division rival like this and somebody you are chasing, it’s huge.”
“That’s an unbelievable feat when you think about it,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said about Letang’s performance. “Especially in today’s game when the parity in the league is so high. Against a good team like the Islanders, it’s not an easy thing to do. Couldn’t be happier for him, obviously he’s an elite player for us.”
The Penguins currently sit three points back of the Washington Capitals for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. With Pittsburgh’s win, they are now just five points behind the Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
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