Pittsburgh Penguins' Avery Hayes (85) fights with Vegas Golden Knights' Cole Reinhardt (23) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH — Bryan Rust, Ben Kindel and Justin Brazeau each had a goal and an assist, helping the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-0 on Sunday.

Rickard Rakell and Egor Chinakhov also scored as Pittsburgh improved to 10-1-3 in its last 14 games. Erik Karlsson had two assists, and Arturs Silovs made 22 saves in his first shutout since opening night on Oct. 7 at the New York Rangers.

Vegas goaltender Adin Hill stopped 17 shots. The Golden Knights dropped to 4-7-2 in their last 13 games.

Vegas captain Mark Stone left late in the first period with an undisclosed injury. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang gave Stone a seemingly harmless shove to the left arm with his stick in the neutral zone, though it may have caught him in the gap between his elbow and shoulder pads. Stone grimaced in pain, went down to one knee and skated off.

Kindel, a first-round pick in the 2025 draft who turns 19 on April 19, scored his 15th goal with 5:04 left in the first.

The Penguins grabbed control with three more goals in the second. Rust and Rakell each scored on the power play.

Brazeau made it 5-0 with 5:01 left in the third. It was Brazeau’s 16th on the season, extending his career high.

Saturday’s game

NEW YORK — Vincent Trocheck scored the shootout winner and Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves and the New York Rangers rallied to defeat the Penguins 3-2 on Saturday.

After an overtime in which each team had several good scoring chances, Trocheck beat Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner with the only goal of the shootout as the Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak. Shesterkin made five saves in overtime.

Mika Zibanejad and Taylor Raddysh also scored for the Rangers..

Anthony Mantha and defenseman Ryan Shea scored for the Penguins, who had their two-game winning streak stopped.

Mantha beat Shesterkin at 2:08 of the first with his 21st goal of the season. Shea made it 2-0 at 1:59 of the second with his fourth goal.

Zibanjead scored his team-leading 24th goal on the power play at the 10-minute mark of the second.

Raddysh tied it with his ninth at 2:57 of the third with assists to Vladislav Gavrikov and Brendan Brisson. It was Brisson’s first point as a Ranger.

Forward Tye Kartye, claimed off waivers from Seattle on Friday, made his Rangers debut.

Shesterkin made his second straight start since returning for Thursday’s 3-2 home overtime loss to Philadelphia. Shesterkin had suffered a lower-body injury suffered on Jan. 5

Skinner made 23 saves in defeat.

The Penguins under first-year head coach Dan Muse – a former Rangers assistant — lead the Rangers by 22 points in the Metropolitan Division.

The Rangers, coached by former Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, are last at 23-29-7.

The Penguins were without captain Sidney Crosby who suffered a lower-body injury at the Winter Olympics in Milan. The 38-year-old center leads Pittsburgh with 27 goals and 59 points. He is expected to miss four weeks.

Up next

The Penguins are at Boston on Tuesday.

Women get laugh on SNL

This time it was Hilary Knight’s turn to provide a big laugh — with an assist from the “Saturday Night Live” writers — in the wake of a weeklong dust-up involving the United States women and men’s Olympic gold medal-winning hockey teams.

Knight, the U.S. women’s captain, along with teammate Megan Keller and men’s team brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes, made a surprise appearance during “Heated Rivalry” star Connor Storrie’s opening monologue on “SNL” on Saturday night.

With the Hughes brothers already on stage alongside Storrie, Knight and Keller joined them to a loud and lengthy ovation. The four players wore USA jerseys with their gold medals draped from their necks.

Knight opened by saying: “It was going to be just us, but we thought we’d invite the guys, too.”

The remark was a clear reference to a controversy that arose when the men received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump following their 2-1 overtime win against Canada on Sunday.