Pittsburgh Penguins’ rookies have certainly been making their mark in the earlygoing of the 2025-26 season.
And one of them made a statement with his first goal in the NHL.
On Thursday, the Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2, and the game-winning goal came courtesy of a third-period shorthanded tally by rookie forward Filip Hallander, which doubled as his first NHL goal.
Hallander and Rickard Rakell broke into the attacking zone on a two-on-one, and Rakell made a nice play to get the puck to the net, where Hallander was waiting. The 25-year-old Swedish forward took a few hacks and finally got the puck past Kings’ goalie Anton Forsberg.
“Raks got a good shot away,” Hallander said. “I almost had an open net on the rebound. Missed that, then I just jammed the puck with all I could. Happy to see it go in.”
The game didn’t start off in ideal fashion for the Penguins, who got buried and hemmed in early. Warren Foegele scored just 4:24 into the first period off of a juicy rebound by goaltender Arturs Silovs, and he got to the net front a bit too easily. Kevin Fiala put the Kings on the board less than five minutes later after an offensive zone turnover by Anthony Mantha and a pretty passing play from Quinton Byfield to make it 2-0.
The second period started much the same, with the Kings taking it to the Penguins and caving them in their own zone quite frequently. Then, Byfield took a hooking penalty near the six-minute mark of the middle frame, and the Penguins took advantage.
Evgeni Malkin – who had six assists and a team-high six points to start the season – walked the puck from the left point to the bottom of the left circle, searching for passing options and finding none. He found the five-hole on Forsberg and put it through, cutting the Kings’ lead in half. The goal also tied him for 41st on the NHL’s all-time list in goals and 29th on the all-time list in scoring.
Then, just 41 seconds later, Connor Dewar tied the game at 2-2 after a nice play on the way to the net by Noel Acciari to get the puck to Dewar, who beat Forsberg short-side.
Sidney Crosby took his second penalty of the game five minutes into the third, and the Penguins went on the penalty kill. That’s when Rakell gained positioning to create a two-on-one and get the puck to the net. His shot hit the cross-bar, and Rakell backhanded the rebound back toward Forsberg, which was when Hallander stuffed it in.
Then, with 31 seconds left in regulation and the Kings pushing pretty hard, Crosby buried it in the empty-net from center ice to put the game away.
Silovs was shaky early on, but he settled in and stopped 30 of 32 shots, many of which were tough saves later on in the game.
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