Penguins Hold Kings to 15 Shots in 4-1 Victory

Tony Tanti scored a goal and set up another Saturday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins improved their exhibition record to 5-1 with a 4-1 victory over the Kings.

The Penguins, one of the NHL’s weakest defensive teams last season, held the Kings without a shot on goal in the third period and limited them to 15 shots for the game. Pittsburgh had 18 shots, 10 in the first period, in its second exhibition victory over the Kings.

The Penguins again played without Mario Lemieux, who is recovering from surgery on a herniated disk. NHL scoring leader Wayne Gretzky played a regular shift for the Kings and was held scoreless. He had two shots on goal.

Tanti put Pittsburgh ahead to stay at 18:02 of the first period with a 20-foot wrist shot through goalie Daniel Berthiaume’s legs.

John Cullen and rookie defenseman Paul Stanton scored to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead in the second period. Cullen put in a centering pass from Rob Brown while Stanton converted a give-and-go with Barry Pederson with the teams playing a man short.

Rookie Francois Breault got the Kings’ only goal at 18:27 of the second period, deflecting in Steve Graves’ centering pass from the left-wing boards.

Goalie Robb Stauber, winger Darryl Williams and Brandy Semchuck were assigned by the Kings to New Haven of the American Hockey League.

Winger Sean Whyte was assigned to Phoenix of the International Hockey League.