Lucky Penguins Nip Islanders, 3-2

There’s an old saying…I’d rather be lucky than good. Well that pretty much sums up the Penguins’ improbable 3-2 victory over the Islanders at PPG Paints Arena last night.

To say the Isles dominated play would be a gross understatement. They outshot the Pens, 35-18, including a whopping 16-4 in the opening 20 minutes. They won 60 percent of the draws and outhit us, 53-30. They clogged the neutral zone, won most of the puck battles and prevented us from generating any flow, not to mention high-danger scoring chances.

In fact, I’m hard-pressed to think of any facet of the game they didn’t control, except maybe goaltending. Had it not been for a magnificent 33-save effort by Tristan Jarry, many of the 10-bell variety…

Lucky, indeed.

Despite our spotty play, we actually took the lead at 12:35 of the second period on a power-play goal that was vintage Pens. Stationed along the right half-wall, Sidney Crosby moved the puck quickly to Evgeni Malkin at the right point. In one motion “Geno” wheeled and fed Kris Letang at the top of the left circle. “Tanger” beat Semyon Varlamov high to the short side for his first goal of the season.

As much as I hoped the lead would stand up, somehow I knew it wouldn’t. Sure enough, Malkin turned the puck over a few minutes later and the Isles sprang to the attack, culminating in a defensive-zone breakdown and a goal from the doorstep by Jordan Eberle. Dear Lord, does that guy torture us (11 regular-and- postseason goals against the Pens since joining the Islanders in 2017-18).

When the Isles grabbed the lead on a goal by our other nemesis, Brock Nelson, just 53 seconds into the third period? To quote Bill Paxton’s character in Aliens, “Game over, man, game over.” 

However, if there’s one quality that defines this Penguins team, it’s resilience. And once again, our guys found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of almost certain defeat.

The game-tying goal came at 7:35 of the period, courtesy of another brilliant individual effort by Mike Matheson. After circling behind his cage with the puck, Matheson exited the zone with speed and flicked a short bounce pass off the side boards to Teddy Blueger. Joining the rush, the red-bearded defender then glided into the slot and fired home a return pass from Blueger. Sort of a give-and-go and coast-to-coast all rolled into one.

Letang made it a hat trick for black-and-gold blueliners six minutes later when he gathered in a pretty pass from Crosby at the left point and walked into the high slot. Showing good patience, he deftly changed the shooting angle at the last second and once again beat Varlamov high to the short side. Credit Jake Guentzel for a perfect screen in front.

The Pens didn’t do a whole lot of things right last night. But I thought we were surprisingly effective at shutting the Islanders down in the closing minutes, especially after New York pulled Varlamov for an extra attacker.

We’ll take the two points and run.

Puckpourri

Crosby celebrated his 1000th NHL game with a typically strong performance. Sid collected two assists, had two shots on goal, three takeaways and won 59 percent of his draws to earn the No. 1 star.

Malkin exited the game for a spell after falling awkwardly into the boards. He appeared to twist his right knee. However, Geno returned to collect the primary helper on Letang’s power-play goal.

Mike Sullivan juggled his line combinations quite a bit. He gave Sam Lafferty increased playing time and the Hollidaysburg native responded with four booming hits and an assist on Matheson’s marker. Kasperi Kapanen, who’s looked listless over his past few games, was demoted to the fourth line.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph had an active game with three hits, two takeaways and a pair of blocked shots. However, his struggles continued in the defensive zone (a minus-two).

Opinyinz

I know he’s not receiving prime ice time. But I’m not overly impressed with rookie forward Drew O’Connor. Touted as this season’s answer to John Marino coming out of training camp, he’s done very little in my eyes. He doesn’t make use of his good size (five hits in eight games) and he doesn’t appear to be especially involved. Looks like some seasoning at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is required. Perhaps opening a spot for Anthony Angello, recently demoted from the taxi squad to the Baby Pens.

Cody Ceci does a really nice job of getting his shot through traffic and on net. It’s low and accurate. And he’s sneaky good at deciding when to join the play without putting himself and his limited mobility at risk.