Pittsburgh Penguins Win In Overtime Over Minnesota Wild

The Pittsburgh Penguins scored first in their exhibition game against the Minnesota Wild at Consol Energy Center on Thursday night and they scored last in overtime to claim a 3-2 victory.

While the teams exchanged leads through three periods, it was Brandon Sutter, who got the Black and Gold on the scoreboard in the first and who closed it out for Mike Johnston’s squad in overtime.

Sutter lit the lamp with his second score of the game at 2:23 into the overtime when he beat Wild goalie Ilya Bryagalov with a backhander. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound center got his first goal on the power play when he threw a wrist shot past Minnesota goaltender Darcy Kuemper at 12:32 of the first period.

Oskar Sundqvist knotted it up on the score sheet with a goal at 7:26 of the third period. Simon Despres contributed an assist on both Sundqvist’s goal and Sutter’s score in overtime.

Minnesota got back in the game just 33 seconds into the second period when Mikko Koivu fired a pass to Thomas Vanek in front of the net and the left wing redirected the puck past Pens goalie Jeff Zatkoff.

Zach Parise gave the Wild the lead at 7:12 of the third period when Mikael Granlund slipped a pass to Parise on the outskirts of the crease for a tap-in score.

Zatkoff, who is in a battle with Thomas Greiss for the backup job to Marc-Andre Fleury, stopped 16 of 18 shots and went the distance between the pipes.

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Kuemper opened the game in goal for the Wild, played the first two periods, and had 14 saves on 15 shots. Bryzgalov blocked 10 of 12 when he took over in the third and finished the contest.

Not only did the Black and Gold out shoot their opponent for the third consecutive game 27-18, they also won the face off battle 36-30 and the blocked shots effort 19-12.

The Penguins host Metropolitan Division opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets at Consol Energy Center on Saturday, Sept 27 at 4 p.m. The exhibition game will be televised nationally on the NHL Network.