Crosby scores 600th NHL goal, Penguins fall to Utah Hockey Club

PITTSBURGH -- Sidney Crosby scored his 600th NHL goal, but the Pittsburgh Penguins allowed four straight goals and lost for the eighth time in 10 games, 6-1 to the Utah Hockey Club at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

Crosby became the 21st player to reach the milestone and second active player to do so, joining Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (868). He cut it to 2-1 on a 5-on-3 power play at 3:11 of the second period.

“It’s not enjoyable, obviously,” Crosby said of scoring No. 600 under the circumstances. “It was a nice reception and a cool moment. I thought we got some momentum off that power play and were doing some good things. Obviously, they get one shortly after and get the lead back. Even with that, we’re still in the game. We’re doing some good things and it gets away from us.”

Dylan Guenther had two goals and an assist, Clayton Keller had three assists, and Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz and Michael Carcone each had two assists for Utah (8-9-3), which had been outscored 11-4 in losing its previous three games. Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves.

“Really happy,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “Tonight, we got it done. I liked the way we did it as well. And I like the way we played offensively.”

Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves for Pittsburgh (7-12-4), which has lost three in a row. The Penguins lost 4-1 to the Winnipeg Jets here Friday.

“I thought we had good energy and we had momentum, especially after Sid’s goal,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “For me, the penalty kill let us down significantly tonight. They get, I don’t know, was it three power-play goals? One of which was shortly after Sid scores.

“We get within striking distance, make it 2-1, we get some momentum and then we don’t get it done on the penalty kill.”

Jack McBain put Utah ahead 1-0 at 8:54 of the first period with a wrist shot near the right post off Guenther’s backhand pass from behind the net.

Mikhail Sergachev made it 2-0 at 13:07, taking a pass from Keller for a wrist shot through traffic from the high slot.

Schmaltz seemed to extend the lead at 18:27 on what would have been his first goal of the season, but it was overturned when the Penguins challenged and it was determined Barrett Hayton interfered with Nedeljkovic.

Crosby then made it a one-goal game, scoring his eighth of the season on a one-timer to the right of the net set up by Erik Karlsson. He had scored once in his previous eight games and went without a shot on goal the previous two.

“Every time you have a chance to be a part of something like this, it’s a pretty crazy milestone when you look at it,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “As a team, we just have to enjoy every second of it, because it’s special. It’s not something you’re going to see many times.”

Nick Bjugstad then pushed the lead to 3-1 on the power play at 10:37 of the second when a shot from Michael Kesselring went in off him in the slot.

“That’s the changing point of the game,” said Bjugstad, who played 45 games across two seasons with Pittsburgh from 2019-20. “He scores a big goal, a historical goal. It’s great for Sid, a great guy. But for us, I think we stayed with it. Our mentality was pretty even-keeled. So it was good and that’s what it takes to win these types of games, for sure.”

Guenther made it 4-1 on another power play at 6:38 of the third period, shoveling in a loose puck in the crease off a shot from Schmaltz.

Alex Kerfoot extended it to 5-1 at 7:25 by tipping a shot from Maveric Lamoureux, and Guenther scored a second power-play goal at 15:59 for the 6-1 final.

“Really good effort, top to bottom, and through the full 60 (minutes),” Guenther said. “We’re good. I think when we play our best, we can play [with] and we can beat anyone.”

NOTES: Crosby is the second player with at least 600 goals for the Penguins (Mario Lemieux, 690). He is the seventh in NHL history to score 600 with one franchise, along with Ovechkin, Gordie Howe (786, Detroit Red Wings), Steve Yzerman (692, Detroit), Lemieux, Joe Sakic (625, Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques) and Bobby Hull (604, Chicago Black Hawks). ... Pittsburgh forward Kevin Hayes played 11:26 and was 6-for-10 on face-offs after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. ... Cooley was raised in Pittsburgh and participated in the first season of Crosby’s Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program in 2008-09. ... Guenther became the first Utah player to score multiple power-play goals in a game.