Be it by hook or by crook, the Pittsburgh Penguins discovered plenty of avenues that led to losses throughout December.
They did it through regulation, overtime and shootouts.
And there was a dreadful sequence of being on the wrong end of shutouts in back-to-back road entanglements.
They even managed to be defeated at various junctures despite possessing one-, three- and four-goal leads in the third period of games.
On Sunday, they employed a rudimentary but reliable schematic for a victory.
Score a bunch of goals against one of the NHL’s worst teams.
Such was the case with their rollicking 7-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Chicago’s United Center.
Buoyed by forward Justin Brazeau’s first career hat trick, the Penguins won in regulation for the first time since Dec. 4.
In addition to outscoring the local football team, the offensive outburst represented a season high in goals for the Penguins, who diced up a struggling Blackhawks outfit that entered the day 31st in the 32-team NHL standings.
Penguins forward Anthony Mantha opened the scoring with his 12th goal of the season only 98 seconds into regulation by cleaning up a rebound in Chicago’s right circle.
The visitors struck again via forward Bryan Rust’s 14th goal at 7:19 of the first period with a wrister from Chicago’s left circle.
Only 61 seconds later, Brazeau got in on the act with his ninth goal.
Off a cycle along Chicago’s end boards, Mantha accepted the puck behind the cage, emerged to the left of the net and fed a backhand pass through the crease. Slipping past the detection of Blackhawks forward Andre Burakovsky, Brazeau buried a forehand shot through the legs of flummoxed goaltender Spencer Knight.
The Blackhawks called a timeout to regroup, but that tactic did little to stymie the Penguins as Rust rang again at 12:03 of the opening frame with a forehand shot from Chicago’s right circle.
Knight was pulled, potentially for humanitarian concerns, after stopping only three of seven shots but returned to open the third period. He was replaced by Arvid Soderblom for the remainder of the first period and all of the second period.
Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno got his team on the scoreboard with his first goal at 10:50 of the second frame.
Brazeau scored again 90 seconds later during a power-play sequence.
Taking a pass at the left half-wall of the offensive zone, Penguins rookie forward Ville Koivunen fed it to the slot. Taking the offering, Penguins rookie forward Ben Kindel maneuvered into the left circle and offloaded the puck with a backhand pass low to the left of the cage for Brazeau, who was tapping his stick to get Kindel’s attention.
With little resistance, Brazeau swept the puck towards the cage on his forehand, then guided a backhander past the left skate of a helpless Soderblom.
A mere 57 seconds later, Brazeau had his hat trick.
Taking a pass above Chicago’s left circle, Penguins forward Connor Dewar chucked a wrister toward the cage. Gaining position on Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic in the slot, Brazeau did a drive-by and redirected the puck with his stick over Soderblom’s left shoulder on the far side.
Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser cauterized the bleeding for a moment with his fourth goal only 13 seconds later.
But that was offset by Penguins fourth-liner Noel Acciari’s third goal at 18:48 of the second period.
Playing a bank off of Chicago’s end boards, Acciari shuffled a forehand shot from above the crease in off of Soderblom’s blocker.
Blackhawks forward Tyler Bertuzzi capped the scoring with his 19th goal at 19:59 of the third period.
Goaltender Arturs Silovs unofficially made 21 saves on 24 shots as his record improved to 6-5-6.
Notes: Penguins forward Blake Lizotte was activated from injured reserve Sunday and returned to the lineup after missing nine games because of an undisclosed malady. … To make room for Lizotte on the active roster, forward Danton Heinen was placed on waivers and designated as “non-roster.”