Sorry. Thought I’d have a little fun with the title.
In the cold, blustery prairie outpost known as “the Peg,” our Penguins may have officially turned their season around last night with a crisp 3-0 triumph over the Jets. No easy feat, given that our foe entered the game on an 8-2 tear thanks to the Vezina-esque twine tending of Connor Hellebuyck and a talented core of forwards paced by Mark Scheifele. But we shut ‘em down. Or more to the point, shut ‘em out.
It isn’t so much that we won as how we won. Indeed, the game fairly brimmed with black-and-gold positives. We played a patient, structured game, waited for our opportunities and capitalized when we got ‘em. Which, IMHO, is exactly the way we need to play in order to succeed.
Again, a shout out to Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff for making adjustments and righting a sinking ship. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Perhaps best of all, some players who’d been struggling contributed mightily to the victory. Out of the blue, Tristan Jarry flashed his all-star form, stopping 32 shots to register his first shutout since February 26. In the process, snapping an ugly string of six-straight outings with a sub-.900 save percentage.
It goes without saying how critical Jarry is to our success.
Speaking of resurgent, how about Bryan Rust? Mired in a deep and disturbing funk entering last night’s contest (no points, a minus-10 in his previous seven games), the Rusty Razor broke out in a big way with a goal and an assist. What’s more, the tenacious winger was on the ice for all three of our goals. Can’t help but feel good for him.
Among other performances of note? The big boys continued to lead from in front. Evgeni Malkin fired off seven shots on goal and set up Jason Zucker on a nifty give-and-go in the right circle for our first goal 53 seconds into the third period.
Man, have these two displayed great chemistry, something I never thought would happen. Geno’s flying and Zucker’s been an inspirational buzz-saw each and every night. Not to mention productive (15 points in 16 games).
Following an atypical so-so stretch, Sidney Crosby’s rebounded big time. He harried Hellebuyck into a critical miscue with 94 ticks remaining, which led to Rust’s cushion-providing tally. Sid added a second helper on Jake Guentzel’s empty-netter in the closing seconds.
I’ll mention Jeff Petry as well. A bit of a mixed bag to date, Jeff made a nice play in the neutral zone to cut off a Jets rush and head-man the puck to Malkin, leading to our first goal. Logging 22:15 of ice time, the workhorse defender finished a plus-three.
But really, all 19 players deserve a pat on the back. Keep it up, boys.
Puckpourri
Statistically, the game couldn’t have been more even. Each team had 56 shot attempts and 32 shots on goal. Scoring chances and high-danger chances were virtually dead-even as well. The Jets won 52 percent of the faceoffs and had a slight edge in hits (26-22).
The Malkin (66.67 Corsi) and Crosby (65) lines enjoyed strong games possession-wise, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Guentzel’s goal was his team-leading 10th of the season. His last four goals have been of the empty-net variety, tying Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the league lead.
Although still a work in progress, our defensive pairings seem to be solidifying. Marcus Pettersson continues to skate alongside Kris Letang. Rookie Pierre-Olivier Joseph (plus-seven on the season) has partnered with Petry, while Brian Dumoulin and Jan Rutta serve as a stay-at-home third pairing.
Likewise, our penalty kill is rounding into form, especially with the return of linchpin Teddy Blueger. They’ve killed off six in a row.
On Tap
The Pens (8-7-3) wrap up their road trip tonight against the Blackhawks (6-8-3) in the Windy City. With 19 points, we’re presently three points out of a playoff spot.
After tonight, the Pens enjoy an extended stretch of home cookin’, with eight of our next ten games slated for the friendly confines of PPG Paints Arena.
