Blood on the Sword: Penguins Slay Golden Knights

 

Might as well jump.

In the wake of the Penguins 5-2 slaying of Vegas last night at PPG Paints Arena, I thought the refrain from a popular Van Halen song aptly described the action.

The Penguins jumped all over the Golden Knights at the outset, running up a 16-5 edge in first-period shots on goal while snagging a 1-0 lead. Returning the favor in the second period, the visitors jumped on the Pens to the tune of an astonishing 22-7 shots advantage while knotting the score at 2-2. And the Pens jumped again in the third period, at least on the scoreboard, notching three goals to pull away.

Oh, and for good measure, Vegas hit man William Carrier jumped peppery Pens defender Mark Friedman.

The game was noteworthy for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the return of our long-lost secondary scoring. Indeed, guys who didn’t have the names CROSBY, GUENTZEL or RUST stitched onto the back of their retro home jerseys tallied four of our five goals. Okay, Bryan Rust did get the other, his 20th of the campaign. Still, it was a huge step in the right direction from a team perspective.

Playing in his first game in over two weeks, Mike Matheson gave us the lead with 66 ticks left in the first period. The quicksilver defenseman jumped into the play, took a picture-perfect feed from Sidney Crosby in full stride (Lord, can Sid pass the puck) and beat Vegas netminder Laurent Brossoit with a crackling wrister from the left circle.

Making his NHL debut, Valtteri Puustinen pitched in with a nifty little play early in the second period. Kris Letang broke up a Vegas rush and chipped the puck to Puustinen off the side boards. The rookie alertly spotted Brock McGinn exiting the zone with speed and fed him a short, quick pass. Brossoit foiled McGinn’s breakaway attempt, but couldn’t find the puck between his skates. Jeff Carter jumped in to poke it home.

Two-zip, Pens.

Then the Golden Knights countered. With Marcus Pettersson flailing at a loose puck in his skates, Jack Eichel jumped into the slot and ripped the bounding biscuit past Tristan Jarry.

Exactly four minutes later, at 8:19, with the clubs skating 4-aside, the Pens lost track of Alex Pietrangelo. The big defenseman jumped into the play and beat Jarry high glove side from point-blank range. Suddenly it’s 2-2 and anybody’s game.

While Vegas executed coach Peter DeBoer’s blitzkrieg attack to perfection, the Pens could do little else but hold the fort. Fortunately, Jarry (40 saves on the night) stood tall between the pipes and gave us a fighting chance.

At 3:49 of the final frame Brian Boyle, back in the lineup after being scratched against Florida, made a terrific play to turn the tide. The big forward cut laterally across the top of the Vegas’ zone and flipped a sweet backhand pass to Friedman, who’d (you guessed it) jumped into the play. The feisty Pens defender smoked Brossoit high stick side to restore our lead.

Still, with Vegas continuing to press the attack, the game was still very much in the balance until 14:49, when Rust jumped into open space to the right of the net and converted on a beautiful short pass from Jake Guentzel. Afforded a little breathing room, we put the game out of reach when Evan Rodrigues shook off a check (okay…jumped into the neutral zone) and split an empty net with 2:17 to go.

That’s it for this silly game summary. But our win over Vegas was anything but.

Puckpourri

The Golden Knights outshot us, 42-33, but held only a slight edge in shot attempts (61-55). We outhit Vegas, 34-29. Both teams had 10 giveaways. The Pens were one-for-three on the power play; Vegas oh-for-two.

Credit coach Mike Sullivan for shaking things up. He scratched moribund Kasperi Kapanen and personal favorite Dominik Simon in favor of Puustinen and Boyle. Rather than relegate Puustinen to fourth-line duty as he so often does with kids, Sully slotted the 22-year-old Finn beside Carter and McGinn and gave him a relatively robust 10:14 of ice time. The trio collected a goal and four points, including Puustinen’s helper.

Second star Carter snapped a 10-game goalless drought. Rodrigues potted his first goal in seven games.

Boyle joined Zach-Aston Reese and Teddy Blueger on the fourth line. Evgeni Malkin skated between Danton Heinen and E-Rod.

With Brian Dumoulin out with an undisclosed injury/illness, Matheson paired with Letang to form a mobile, offensive-minded tandem. They had six shots on goal and were a collective plus-five.

More on Dumo…to my eye he appeared to be hurt during the second period against Florida when Radko Gudas rammed him into the sideboards with a hard check. He absorbed a second hit from Aleksander Barkov minutes later and again appeared to be shaken up.

His absence means Friedman gets an extended look, which I personally think is a good thing. The spirited defender continues to impress with his speed and smarts, not to mention his abrasive play and knack for goading opponents into penalties. In addition to his game-winning goal, “Freeds” dove to the ice to break up a Grade-A scoring chance earlier in the contest. His efforts earned him third-star honors.

In keeping with his style of play, I’m thinking “Cap’n Crash” or “Chaos” for potential nicknames.

The victory snapped a two-game losing streak and vaulted the Pens (35-15-9, 79 points) back into second place in the Metro, six back of division-leading Carolina and two and five up on the Rangers and Capitals, respectively. On deck…the ‘Canes for a matinee matchup at the Paint Can tomorrow afternoon.

Call Me Crazy But…

In the wake of GM Ron Hextall’s comment that “even Wayne Gretzky got traded,” could the Pens be quietly entertaining the thought of moving Letang at the trade deadline? Sounds crazy, I know. But with the team and the star defenseman reportedly miles apart on contract term and Friedman’s emergence as a capable NHL defender, plus the presence of an NHL-ready Pierre-Olivier Joseph, could Tanger’s days in the black-and-gold be numbered?