shots for his third shutout of the playoffs, and the Vegas beat San Jose in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.Cody Eakin, Erik

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brandon Pirri has become a welcome headache for the Vegas Golden Knights.Since being called up from the Chicago Wolves on Dec. 20 Adidas Curtis McKenzie Jersey , the 27-year-old has six goals and three assists in seven games, and he’s helped ignite the team’s hottest line. He and primary linemates Alex Tuch and Paul Stastny have a combined 12 goals and 10 assists in those games.Vegas wants to keep the party going, but that might be difficult with Max Pacioretty expected off injured reserve soon.General manager George McPhee and coach Gerard Gallant have a difficult decision:Send down Pirri, who wouldn’t have to clear waivers since he’s only been with the team for seven games.Or risk losing a different player on the waiver wire in an effort to keep Pirri on the active roster.“We want people making hard decisions for us,” Gallant said. “Pirri’s come up here and done everything we’ve asked him to do, so when we have to make a tough decision, we’ll sit down and we’ll decide what we’re gonna do.”Pirri, Tuch and Stastny have become a formidable trio. Stastny, a 14-year veteran, has urged his younger linemates to stay aggressive, and they’ve been finding each other all over the ice.“He’s in the right spot at all times Adidas Nick Holden Jersey ,” Pirri said of Stastny. “His character is so good, he talks on the bench, he makes my life and Tuckie’s life really easy. He tells you where he’s gonna be and we get him the puck.“We got a good thing going here and it’s a lot of fun being on this line.”Pacioretty has skated with the team this week and could return as soon as Friday night’s game in Anaheim. Someone will have to be re-assigned to Chicago, and it could be Pirri, who was named an AHL All-Star after leading the league with 41 points.The other likely options would all have to be exposed to waivers and could be lost to another team. Those candidates include Oscar Lindberg, Ryan Carpenter, Tomas Nosek or recently acquired Valentin Zykov, claimed off waivers on Dec. 29.Pirri, Tuch and Stastny have outscore the team’s other active forwards by two points since Pirri’s recall.“I gotta be consistent, make the (upper) brass’ job really difficult,” Pirri said. “That’s all I can control Adidas Paul Stastny Jersey , I’m just trying to work hard every day. If I’m consistent, that’s what every NHL team is looking for and it’s gonna show up night in and night out.” WASHINGTON (AP) Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel scored in a 4:49 span of the third period to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally to for a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night in Game 1 of the second-round series.Down 2-0 and playing without Evgeni Malkin and Carl Hagelin, Pittsburgh turned it around with all three of its top-line forwards chipping in a goal. Crosby scored the tying goal when the puck bounced to him off Alex Ovechkin’s stick, and assisted on Guentzel’s go-ahead goal.Matt Murray stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced to put the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champions ahead in yet another series with Game 2 on Sunday in Washington. The Penguins have won nine in a row under coach Mike Sullivan dating to 2016, including the past two meetings against Washington.Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 17 seconds in and Ovechkin beat Murray 28 seconds into the third period for the Capitals, who lost a game started by Braden Holtby for the first time in these playoffs.Holtby allowed three goals on 25 shots.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 7, SHARKS 0LAS VEGAS (AP) – Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 shots for his third shutout of the playoffs, and the Vegas beat San Jose in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.Cody Eakin, Erik Haula and Jonathan Marchessault scored 1:31 apart early in the first period to get Vegas going. Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore Adidas Max Pacioretty Jersey , Colin Miller and James Neal also scored, Reilly Smith and William Karlsson each had three assists, and Marchessault and David Perron added two each.Fleury, who improved to 5-0 in the playoffs, got his 13th career shutout in the playoffs – and second straight. He also blanked Los Angeles 1-0 in Game 4 of the first round.The Golden Knights have now outscored opponents 14-3 in five games in the postseason.Sharks goalie Martin Jones, who stopped 128 of 132 shots in the first round against the Ducks, was pulled a little more than three minutes into the second period after allowing five goals on 13 shots. Backup goalie Aaron Dell came in and finished with 19 saves.