After a four-goal second period, the Pittsburgh Penguins lead the Winnipeg Jets 6-4 at the second intermission. This one looked like it would be a track meet from the outset, and the Pens are racking up some impressive stats just 40 minutes into the game. Both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have four-point games and James Neal has a hat trick.
Neal opened the scoring in the period and then, after each team exchanged two goals, finished the period scored with his second career hat trick and first with the Penguins. His third goal was a ripped shot from a bad angle on the left side. that beat Chris Mason, who replaced Ondrej Pavelec in the middle of the second period.
The Penguins got their fourth goal of the night on another beautiful pass by Crosby, who rifled a perfect feed from behind the net to Tyler Kennedy for his second goal of the night. Evgeni Malkin added the fifth goal of the night on a shot from the right circle on a delayed penalty. Crosby controlled the puck in the center of the ice and passed it off to Malkin who faked and then rocketed a low slap shot past Pavelec for his 42nd goal of the season.
Despite the Pittsburgh barrage, the Jets are hanging tough and keeping it from becoming a complete blow out. But if this pace keeps up, it's unlikely they'll be able to out-score the Pens and pull off the upset at Consol Energy Center.
For more on this game and all things related to the Penguins please head over to PensBurgh. For some perspective from the other bench you can check out Arctic Ice Hockey, SB Nation's Winnipeg Jets blog. For more on this and every NHL game, please head over to the SB Nation NHL hub page.