NHL

Pittsburgh Penguins at Los Angeles Kings

· National Hockey League

Bryan Rust makes sure his second OT goal counts as Penguins defeat Kings 4-3

Bryan Rust's OT winner for Penguins is waved off, so he scores again

His wraparound goal with 1:15 remaining on the clock in overtime gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, giving them a sweep of their California road trip for the first time since 1996-97.

Rust appeared to put in his own rebound 19 seconds earlier, but the goal was waved off when he was ruled offside.

“The first one, when I first got it, I thought it was offside. They didn’t blow the whistle and I just kept playing in the puck. I celebrated like it was a goal, but I wasn’t too surprised when it didn’t count," said Rust, who has five overtime regular-season goals in his 10-year career. "I was able to get out there right away again and make the most of it.”

Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist as he became the 11th player in NHL history with 450 career multi-point games. He also extended his point streak to seven games.

Lars Eller and Jake Guentzel also had goals for the Penguins. Magnus Hellberg stopped 34 shots.

“I know it was an ugly win. I don’t think we were at our best. We had moments when I thought we would get into momentum swings on both sides, but I just thought we kept competing," coach Mike Sullivan said. "It’s obviously a great road trip for us. I think it’s something that we can build on.”

Los Angeles had a four-game winning streak snapped. Adrian Kempe extended his points streak to eight games with a second-period goal and Anze Kopitar moved into second on the Kings’ career points list with an assist on Carl Grundstrum's first-period score.

Kevin Fiala also scored and Pheonix Copley made 16 saves.

Crosby assisted on Guentzel's goal 37 seconds into the third period, which snapped the Kings' four-game winning streak. Crosby was near the blue line in the offensive zone when he saw Guentzel quickly skating in to his left. Crosby fed a perfect cross-ice pass to Guentzel, who redirected it past Copley to make it 3-2.

Fiala evened it at 6:40 when he put in a rebound after a mad scramble in front of the net.

Crosby — who has four goals and nine points during his points streak — opened the scoring with a wraparound goal 7:11 into the first period. It was his 557th career goal, which ties him with Mike Modano (Minnesota/Dallas) and Luc Robitaille (Kings) for the ninth most in NHL history by a player with one franchise.

Kopitar picked up his 1,155th point during the first period when Grundstrum tied it.

Matt Roy fired the puck down the ice as the Kings were killing a penalty. Kopitar chased down the puck in the corner behind the net and fed it to Grundstrom, who chipped it in as he was skating to the front of the net

The assist, the 755th of Kopitar’s career, also put him two away from tying Marcel Dionne’s franchise record 757.

“It seems to be happening every night. The sun comes up and it goes down, and Kopi sets a record," coach Todd McLellan said. "It should be recognized, acknowledging the type of career he’s had. But it’s happening over and over again, which is great for him.”

Kempe put the Kings up 2-1 at 9:58 of the second with a slap shot from the back of the left faceoff circle. Eller then tied it when he kept control of the puck and released a snap shot from the slot at 18:03.

UP NEXT

Penguins: Return home to face Buffalo on Saturday.

Kings: Host Philadelphia on Saturday.

Regular Season Series

PIT leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 7:11 Sidney Crosby Goal (7) Backhand, assists: none
Goal 1st Period 14:14 Carl Grundstrom Goal (5) Snap Shot, assists: Anze Kopitar (7), Matt Roy (5)
Goal 2nd Period 9:58 Adrian Kempe Goal (6) Snap Shot, assists: Mikey Anderson (7), Quinton Byfield (10)
Goal 2nd Period 18:03 Lars Eller Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: none
Goal 3rd Period 0:37 Jake Guentzel Goal (5) Tip-In, assists: Sidney Crosby (7), Erik Karlsson (8)
Goal 3rd Period 6:40 Kevin Fiala Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Pierre-Luc Dubois (4), Jordan Spence (6)
Goal 4th Period 3:45 Bryan Rust Goal (7) Wrap-around, assists: Evgeni Malkin (7), Erik Karlsson (9)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/pit.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originPIT https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/la.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originLA
16 Blocked Shots 13
26 Hits 21
2 Takeaways 3
20 Shots 36
0 Power Play Goals 0
2 Power Play Opportunities 3
0.0 Power Play Percentage 0.0
1 Short Handed Goals 1
0 Shootout Goals 0
28 Faceoffs Won 28
50.0 Faceoff Win Percent 50.0
9 Giveaways 12
4 Total Penalties 3
8 Penalty Minutes 6
Los Angeles Kings Los Angeles Kings Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Darcy Kuemper, G Injured Reserve Dec 16
Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh Penguins Injuries
NAME, POS STATUS DATE
Harrison Brunicke, D Out Dec 9
Blake Lizotte, C Injured Reserve Dec 9
Evgeni Malkin, C Injured Reserve Dec 9
Peyton Kettles, D Out Nov 24
Caleb Jones, D Injured Reserve Oct 25

Game Information

crypto.com Arena

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: 18,145 | Capacity:

2025-26 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 22 10 47 3
Washington 19 12 43 5
NY Islanders 19 13 42 4
Philadelphia 17 10 41 7
New Jersey 20 15 41 1
NY Rangers 18 16 40 4
Pittsburgh 15 11 39 9
Columbus 14 15 34 6

2025-26 Pacific Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Anaheim 21 13 44 2
Vegas 16 8 42 10
Edmonton 18 13 42 6
Los Angeles 15 10 39 9
San Jose 17 16 37 3
Calgary 15 17 34 4
Vancouver 15 17 33 3
Seattle 13 14 32 6
Full Standings