Penguins dominate Blackhawks for fifth consecutive win as Connor Dewar scores twice

King Jemison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jan 29, 2026

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — Thursday’s first period wasn’t pretty for the Penguins — and after not playing since Sunday and traveling across the continent earlier this week, that wasn’t too surprising.

But their second period against the Blackhawks was one of their finest of the season. Pittsburgh outshot Chicago 23-6 in the period, racking up four goals along the way to take a 5-1 lead into the second intermission.

The Penguins ultimately beat the Blackhawks, 6-2, at PPG Paints Arena, to pick up their fifth straight win and push their record since the holiday break to 12-2-2. Fourth-liner Connor Dewar registered his second multigoal game in the past five contests with tallies in the first and third periods.

The second-period explosion was headlined by the Anthony Mantha show. The big winger racked up three points — assisting a Ben Kindel goal, scoring on a breakaway and then picking up another helper on Ryan Shea’s blast for the team’s fourth goal of the period in the final minute.

Kindel and Shea had two points apiece in the period. Kindel’s goal gave him three in the past two games on the heels of a 19-game stretch without scoring. He then fired a beautiful feed to set up Mantha’s score.

Shea picked up an assist there, too, creating the breakout with a crisp pass to Kindel out of his own zone.

And the second line wasn’t going to be left out of the fun. Evgeni Malkin continued his scintillating stretch with a whirling assist to Egor Chinakhov — who scored his sixth goal in 14 games with the Penguins from close range.

Playing his first NHL game since Jan. 3, Rutger McGroarty didn’t register a point in the second. But his all-around impact played a big part in the big period. He put four shots on net, made multiple key plays to set up goals and was a +3.

It was a stark turnaround from a rough opening 20 minutes. The Penguins committed four penalties, gave up eight high-danger scoring chances while generating just two, and surrendered the opening goal to Chicago’s Connor Murphy — who sniped a shot past Arturs Silovs against a fairly lackadaisical rush defense (including a screen set by Kris Letang).

But once again, the fourth line delivered a big moment less than two minutes later. Blake Lizotte stole the puck in the corner, and Dewar set up a Noel Acciari chance from in tight. Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom managed to save that shot but couldn’t stop Dewar after he collected the puck on the rebound and rifled home his 12th goal of the season — a new career high — to tie the game at 1.

Silovs made several impressive saves in the first period, particularly on the penalty kill. He didn’t have to do much the rest of the way and finished with 17 saves, unofficially, as the Penguins outshot the Blackhawks 44-19.

Dewar built on that career high when he poked his second goal of the night through heavy traffic with about six minutes remaining. Lizotte and Acciari again picked up assists.

Connor Bedard scored about 30 seconds later for Chicago.

It was over when ...

Shea hammered home a slap shot, set up by a primary assist from fellow defenseman Ilya Solovyov in his Penguins debut, to give the Penguins a 5-1 lead after the second period.

Stat of the game

— Plus-17: The Penguins’ shot differential in a dominant second period that broke the game open.

Around the boards

— Solovyov played for the first time since joining the team in a Jan. 20 trade with Colorado. A spot next to Shea opened after Jack St. Ivany exited Sunday’s win in Vancouver with an injury. St. Ivany had hand surgery this week, and the expected recovery time is up to eight weeks.

— McGroarty was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and slotted onto the third line Thursday, with Bryan Rust serving the first of his three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head in Vancouver.

Up next

The Penguins play the second leg of a three-game homestand Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against the New York Rangers. Before the game, the team will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the 2016 Stanley Cup triumph.