Hats Off to Rodrigues and Rust, Penguins Feast on Sharks, 8-5

Coming off an extended Covid/holiday break, I wasn’t sure what to expect from our Penguins. After all, we were down starting goalie Tristan Jarry and no fewer than six forwards. Two lines worth. I sure wasn’t expecting yesterday afternoon’s 8-5 goal-fest triumph over San Jose.

Moving like a typhoon over the ocean, our Pens literally blew the visiting Sharks out of the water during an incendiary opening period, the likes of which have only been seen once before during the black-and-gold’s 55-year history. Then we hung on for dear life as the Sharks staged a furious third-period rally to make a game of it.

Continuing his stunning transformation from fringe player to star, Evan Rodrigues got us off and running 63 ticks into the game. After taking a short pass from Danton Heinen, E-Rod cut across the Sharks’ zone, faked a look to Dominik Simon, and beat James Reimer with a top-shelf drive from the slot.

Defying all Reimer reason (sorry, couldn’t resist), the Pens struck three more times on rapid-fire tallies by Jake Guentzel, Rodrigues again and Bryan Rust to snatch a 4-0 lead in the first six minutes and change. When the Sharks bit back on a goal by Alexander Barabanov at 15:33, the Pens responded with two more tallies.

Skating in his first NHL game, Kasper Bjorkqvist scored from the lip of the crease off a feed by the “Big Z,” Radim Zohorna, also playing in his first game of the season for the black and gold. Rust closed out the scoring in a mad-cap 6-1 first period with a long-range drive from center point.

The second period was tame enough. Sharks backup goalie Zach Sawchenko served notice that he wouldn’t be an easy mark, stopping Drew O’Connor from point-blank range. San Jose’s blue line behemoth Brent Burns notched the only marker of the period while working on a power play with a long-range blast from center point.

Up 6-2 heading into the final period, the Pens were on easy street, right? Well, not exactly.

In the final period chaos reigned in reverse. Twenty seconds in, Casey DeSmith (22 saves on 27 shots) misplayed a carom off the end boards and knocked the puck into his net to ignite the Sharks’ rally. In rapid succession, Jacob Middleton and Logan Couture scored to cut the Pens’ lead to a goal with nearly 16 minutes to play.

Fortunately, our boys weathered the storm. Leave it to E-Rod to score the clincher on a seeing-eye drive from the top of the left circle while working on a man-advantage with two minutes to play. Triggering a cascade of flying hats. A scene repeated with 11 seconds left when Rust scored into an empty net, capping an exhilarating Pens win and a five-point night for the hustling winger.