Penguins Game Three Review: At Long Last…A Reason to Smile

They say confession is good for the soul. Well, truth be told, I thought Washington was going to crush our Penguins yesterday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. Honestly, I was thinking 8-2.  So when our guys rallied twice from one-goal deficits to send the game into overtime and then outlasted the potent Capitals in a long, grinding shootout? Cause for a celebration to say the least.

Frankly, I was stunned when the Pens grabbed a quick lead 19 seconds in…and that Evan Rodrigues of all players did the honors. But when the Caps rallied on goals by Nick Dowd and Alex Ovechkin to snatch a 2-1 lead? Here we go again.

Then newcomer Colton Sceviour scored on a busted play early in the second period, courtesy of a hustling effort by Teddy Blueger, to knot the score at 2-2 and set the tone for a call-and-respond performance by our guys. The Caps would strike and we’d strike back.

Such was the case following a power-play tally by Nicklas Backstrom midway through the second period. The Pens replied just minutes later on a goal by Marcus Pettersson, who gathered in a pretty feed from Jason Zucker and rifled the puck home from the high slot.

The contest remained knotted at 3-all through the third period and overtime. During the shootout, Casey DeSmith…solid if unspectacular…shut down the Caps four biggest guns, including the “Great Eight.” Setting the stage for Jake Guentzel’s feel-good game winner.

Hot Stuff

Mike Sullivan—The Pens’ skipper doesn’t draw many kudos from this blog. But he deserved some yesterday. Richly. Following two shaky starts, he gave DeSmith the starting nod over struggling Tristan Jarry. Casey stopped 20 of 23 shots in a workmanlike effort.

“Sully” also parked high profile off-season acquisition Cody Ceci in the press box for a second straight game. Takes some kahunas for a coach to do that.

He was rewarded with typically solid play from Chad Ruhwedel (plus-two).

The only negative in my book? Sullivan chained Sam Lafferty (two hits in 3:08 of ice time) to the bench for basically setting up the first Caps goal.

The Supporting Cast—Of the eight goals the Pens have scored this season, five have come from non-core players. Six if you count the “look ma, no hands” tally by Rodrigues, who’s been moonlighting on the first line with Kasperi Kapanen bound in bureaucratic red tape. Which leads me to…

Not-So Hot Stuff

The Top Six—When, oh when, is the top six going to score? Aside from Sidney Crosby’s two power-play markers, they’ve got nada, zip, nothing through three games. There are signs of life from Guentzel, Zucker and Bryan Rust. But Evgeni Malkin’s been mostly comatose. At age 34, let’s hope this isn’t the start of an inevitable erosion of “Geno’s” once-exquisite skills.

The Matheson Conundrum—Not to kick a guy when he’s hurt and on IR. But you go out and acquire a high-priced defenseman (Matheson) who isn’t nearly as effective as one you already had on hand (Riikola…plus-one, four hits yesterday). Something the metrics should have told you. What’s a GM to do? After JR finishes wiping the egg off his face, it’ll be interesting to see how this situation plays out when Matheson returns.

Tom, Dick and Jarry—Through two miserable starts, talented Tristan has born scant resemblance to the netminder who earned an All-Star berth while virtually chasing two-time Cup winner Matt Murray out of town. At some point, the Pens are going to have to ride Jarry. Pray goaltending coach Mike Buckley (himself a question mark?) can fix what’s ailing the B.C. native.