The Penguins stop the Islanders Streak

What was that quote attributed to that great philosopher Yogi Berra, “Déjà vu all over again”? That is what I thought for the first half of the game last night.

In the opening seconds of the game, the New York Islanders played dump and chase, beating our Pittsburgh Penguins to the puck. They suckered the whole black and gold 1st unit to their own right corner and then reversed it back up the wall to the opposite point and Ryan Pulock. The shot looked like it hit Michael Del Colle and then the side off the net or post, then the rear boards where it bounced slowly and toward the opposite side, from behind. De Colle and Matt Murray’s Defenseman Marcus Pettersson paused as if they expected the bounce to come back up the near post, freezing Murray momentarily.

Murray didn’t pause long but just enough that Casey Cizikas got to the puck from behind the night, uncontested and pulled it back in front. Having to respect a De Colle attempt to his glove hand, Murray now had to do the splits across the crease to get his stick and skate close to the play but Cisikas was able to lift the puck over the outstretched Penguins’ Goaltender and into the net, 19s into the game.

Fortunately the game settled down and didn’t turn into a blowout. It took until 6:28 of the 2nd before the next goal was scored, a Short Handed Goal (SHG) by New York. Cole Bardreau got called for hooking Nick Bjugstad opening the door for more Penguin Power Play (PP) frustration, at 6:15. Sidney Crosby did win the ensuing Face Off (FO) but the Islanders got control of the puck and broke out.

Evgeni Malkin had pinched but Cal Clutterbuck lifted his stick so the puck got past him up the wall. Jake Guentzel circled back to cover the open point but hesitated on his check, giving time and space for a break out. Clutterbuck bumped the puck up to Cisikas. Justin Schultz over rotated to Cisikas giving Clutterbuck a lane to the net and Cisikas found him. Clutterbuck took advantage of Schultz playing the puck and not the pass and drove into the slot before firing a low wrist shot past Murray’s stick side.

Clutterbuck did make a good play on Malkin to lift his stick and Guentzel and Schultz hesitated and misplayed their positions but for you Murray haters out there, yes, I agree, this was a shot that Murray actually did have a chance to stop but didn’t – the only one.

Adam Pelech beat Murray about 3 minutes later on a shot were Murray was totally screen and Teddy Bleuger accidently deflected. My major concern with trading Erik Gudbranson was that our Penguins Defensemen were not strong enough to handle the net front presence of divisional foes, particularly Anders Lee and the Islanders and that hurt the team on this (so far isolated) incident.

Things looked bleak for our boys of winter. They had peppered Semyon Varlamov with 26 ineffectual shots in the first 2 frames and were down 3 – 0. Finally coach Mike Sullivan shook up his lines and removed the millstone Dominik Simon from Crosby’s line bumping Alex Galchenyuk up to replace him on the number 1 unit and Jared McCann up to Malkin’s line to replace Galchenyuk.

Crosby’s line did look a little more dangerous, sans Simon et avec Galchenyuk, but the real story was McCann. With all the injuries and poor personnel decisions the kid started slow, but is now getting back to the form we saw him in when he first came here last spring. The young forward now has 9 points but more importantly is a +12, tops on the team. With McCann being installed on Malkin’s port side; that line accounted for the next 3 goals, tying the game, sending it into Over Time (OT) and a chance at the win.

McCann dug the puck off the Left Wing (LW) wall and got it back to Brian Dumoulin. Dumoulin slide the puck cross-point to John Marino and Marino fed it back to McCann just to the inside top of the Right Wing (RW) FO circle. Bryan Rust took away Varlamov’s eyes with a good screen and McCann fired the puck past him and our aquatic avians started their comeback.

New York was not going to make it easy on Pittsburgh. Pelech fired a slap shot at the Penguins’ net, 6:07 into the 3rd that Murray had trouble controlling. The rebound found its way on to Anthony Beauvillier’s stick. The New York forward fired the biscuit at a wide open net. Murray kicked his skate up and stopped the puck to preserve the score. (Of course, some people will quickly forget this save.)

Rust then brought the score within 1, not quite 5 minutes later. Malkin started the play, back checking his own zone (how many people are going to forget this play a month from now and write something like Malkin never plays defense – no this wasn’t his 1st time either). The big Russian Center clean up a loose puck and found MacCann with an outlet pass. McCann then sent a laser stretch pass to the high flying Rust. Between Rust’s speed and a bad angle for the Islander Defenseman, the Penguins RW got a clean look at his opponent’s goal and fired a wrist shot behind the New York’s backstop. Our now favorite flying fowl were back within 1, 3 – 2.

Malkin, tied it up roughly 2 and a half minutes later. McCann got the puck back to Juuso Riikola who took a couple strides to the inside and fired the puck toward the net. The shot beat the Goalie but hit the crossbar and kicked back out to Malkin, where upon the Penguin pivot potted the puck into the net on a backhand shot.

The unthinkable was happening. A team scored 3 – 3rd period goals on the Islanders who had yet to surrender a 3rd period lead for an eternity.

Rust finished off the improbable comeback at 3:25 of the extra frame. Although Malkin wasn’t credited with an assist, his hard forecheck caused a loose puck that his RW pounced on. Rust swooped behind the net and slipped past a stunned New York Goalie, team, and crowd to snap the Islanders back to earth.

Without Kris Letang in the line-up and with Dominik Simon dropped down out of the top 6 the Black and Goal (Jorenzism) got back into the Win Column. Thanks to McCann’s, Malkin’s, and Rust’s scoring and Murray’s unconscious save the Penguins have (at least temporarily) climbed back into the top 3 of the division.

Now it is time to revive Crosby’s line. Let’s hope Galchenyuk can do that.

Go Pens!!!!