Pens beat Blackhawks 5-3; Kovalev nets hat trick (25-Jan-2003)
Alexei Kovalev broke out of his goal-scoring slump in a big way with a hat trick in Pittsburgh's 5-3 victory over the Blackhawks. Kovalev scored the first two Pens goals and also finished off the scoring. The hat trick was Kovalev's first of the season, 10th of his career and Pittsburgh's first by any player this season. Randy Robitaille and Steve McKenna also scored for the Penguins.
Scoring
1st
2nd
3rd
-
T
Blackhawks
2
0
1
-
3
Penguins
1
2
2
-
5
Shots on goal
1st
2nd
3rd
-
T
Blackhawks
11
8
7
-
26
Penguins
8
12
10
-
30
Power Plays
1st
2nd
3rd
-
T
Blackhawks
0-1
0-2
0-0
-
0-3
Penguins
0-1
0-2
0-1
-
0-4
Goaltender: Jean-Sebastien Aubin.
Alternate captains: Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka, Marc Bergevin.
1st Period Scoring: Chicago, Phil Housley 6 (Mark Bell), 3:00; Pittsburgh, Alexei Kovalev 21 (Randy Robitaille), 6:09; Chicago, Andrei Nikolishin 4 (Steve Thomas, Jon Klemm), 18:06.
1st Period Penalties: A Nikolishin, Chi (tripping), 7:46; J Hrdina, Pit (holding), 15:34.
Shots after one period were 11-8 in favor of Chicago.
2nd Period Scoring: Pittsburgh, Alexei Kovalev 22 (Randy Robitaille, Ian Moran), 0:32; Pittsburgh, Randy Robitaille 3 (Jan Hrdina, Dick Tarnstrom), 4:20.
2nd Period Penalties: D Tarnstrom, Pit (hooking), 5:14; S Poapst, Chi (closing hand on puck), 15:56; M Straka, Pit (hooking), 17:40; T Fleury, Chi (holding stick), 18:50.
Shots after two were 20-19 in favor of Pittsburgh.
3rd Period Scoring: Chicago, Steve Sullivan 14 (Alexei Zhamnov, Theo Fleury), 4:39; Pittsburgh, Steve Mckenna 6 (Wayne Primeau, Shean Donovan), 5:44; Pittsburgh, Alexei Kovalev 23 (Jan Hrdina, Randy Robitaille), 15:21.
3rd Period Penalties: E Daze, Chi (hooking), 6:56.
Scratches: Josef Melichar (shoulder), Aleksey Morozov (wrist), Janne Laukkanen (hip), Johan Hedberg (shoulder), Mario Lemieux (groin), Dan LaCouture and Hans Jonsson.
