Penguins Give Their All but Fall to Islanders in Double OT

In my last game summary, I concluded that the Penguins would need to bring their ‘A’ game on Monday evening or they’d be staring up at a 3-2 series deficit.

Well, our guys gave their very best last night during Game 5 at PPG Paints Arena, at times thoroughly dominating the Islanders. They outshot the New Yorkers, 50-28. They converted one of two power plays, won the faceoff battle (53 percent) and were virtually even in hits. However, they lost, 3-2, in heart-wrenching fashion on a horrible giveaway by Tristan Jarry a scant 51 seconds into the second overtime.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned or hoped.

Determined to atone for a lackluster effort in Game 4, the Pens jumped on the Isles from the opening draw. Leading the charge was a rejuvenated Evgeni Malkin. Skating with fire and purpose, “Geno” staked us to an early lead with a power-play tally at 8:20 of the first period. Finishing off a gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing sequence, No. 71 walked in from the left circle and beat Ilya Sorokin with a rising bullet to the stick side.

Vintage Malkin.

It appeared the Pens would enter the first intermission with a hard-earned 1-0 lead. But with 55 seconds to play Anthony Beauvillier took advantage of an ill-advised pinch by Kris Letang, sped around Jake Guentzel and beat Jarry high stick side.

If the Pens were fazed, they didn’t show it. Pulling out all stops, they overwhelmed the Islanders in the second period, piling up a stunning 20-4 edge in shots on goal.

Although he didn’t pick up an assist, Malkin was front and center on our next scoring play at 7:37 of the frame. Buying time in the neutral zone following a failed offensive thrust, Geno hit Letang with a perfect pass to send the fleet defender racing into the New York zone. “Tanger” fed Sidney Crosby, who in turn dropped the puck to Bryan Rust high in the zone. The new dad stepped into the rubber and blasted a wicked one-timer past Sorokin.

Holding a 2-1 lead entering the third period, we appeared to be in command as time ticked off the clock. But near the nine-minute mark the Isles trapped our defensemen (Letang and Brian Dumoulin) to the right of the net thanks to some hard forechecking. With inside position on our defense, Leo Komarov moved the puck quickly to Jordan Eberle. Wide open, Eberle beat a sprawling Jarry to knot the score at 2-all.

The goalies took over for the rest of regulation and through an exciting first overtime. Then Jarry flinched, firing a clearing feed directly to Josh Bailey in the first minute of the second OT. Before we could react, the Isles forward cruised into the slot and beat our discombobulated goalie high glove side.

A crushing defeat for a black-and-gold squad that gave its all.

The difference on this night was Sorokin.

Puckpourri

The Pens dominated the fancy stats as well as the game, enjoying a whopping edge in Corsi events (78-41), scoring chances (36-18) and high danger chances (14-4) at 5v5.

Rust (a goal and an assist) and Letang (two assists) paced us with two points each. Tanger delivered 10 hits while logging an eye-popping 37:20 of ice time. He also had three giveaways and finished a minus-one. Dumoulin finished a minus-two.

Rust, Frederick Gaudreau and Mike Matheson led the black and gold with six shots on goal. Guentzel had five, but was held off the score sheet for the fourth game in a row. Kasperi Kapanen managed one shot on goal and finished a minus-two. He’s a team-worst minus-five for the series.

Around the League

North of the border, Winnipeg beat Edmonton and Connor McDavid in triple overtime to complete a four-game sweep. Toronto nipped Montreal, 2-1, to go up by the same margin in the series.

Minnesota whipped Vegas, 4-2, to close the series gap to 3-2. Florida likewise staved off elimination, downing Tampa Bay behind a 36-save effort by rookie Spencer Knight.

Mission Possible

Having blown a 2-1 series lead, the 1990-91 Pens trailed a tough, gritty New Jersey team in their opening-round series, 3-2. Shackled by a cadre of physical Devils checkers, Mario Lemieux was having an ordinary series. To make matters worse, Game 6 was slated for the Meadowlands and the Pens would play without starting goalie Tom Barrasso. If ever a team appeared dead in the water, it was that one.

Why am I sharing a history lesson? Despite our present grim circumstances, winning two games in a row is doable. During the regular season, we displayed a remarkable resilience and esprit de corps. Those qualities will need to be front and center in Game 6, along with a heightened attention to detail. And some guys, most notably Kapanen and Jared McCann, will need to pick it up a notch.

A tough climb, to be sure. But not a mission impossible.

What became of that ’91 squad? They rallied behind backup goalie Frank Pietrangelo to dispatch the Devils in Games 6 and 7…and went on to capture the Cup.