Kraken Devour Penguins in OT, 2-1

 

It looks like I’ve done it again. No sooner do I write a complimentary article about our ‘Guins than they drop one to the visiting Seattle Kraken in come-from-in-front fashion. Snapping our six-game winning streak in the process.

With the Red Wings visiting tonight for the second of back-to-back games and struggling Casey DeSmith likely to get the start in goal, I’ll need to hurry up and write a negative article about our boys to reverse the bad juju I’ve invoked.

Kidding…sort of.

From a scoring standpoint, there isn’t much to describe. The Pens generally dictated play through the opening 40 minutes, piling up a 20-9 advantage in shots on goal while Tristan Jarry and his counterpart, Philipp Grubauer posted matching goose eggs.

As incredulous as it seemed, thoughts of a rare scoreless tie danced in my head until the clock ticked down to 11:19 remaining. That’s when Evgeni Malkin took a saucer pass from Kris Letang, drifted between the circles and roofed the puck over Grubauer for a power-play goal.

I’ll interrupt my summary at this stage to mention a conversation I had with Other Rick prior to the game. As we discussed the match-up, I casually mentioned two members of the Kraken who might do some damage, Jordan Eberle (who seems to own us) and ex-Pen Jared McCann, Seattle’s leading scorer.

Well, sure enough, with four minutes left in regulation Eberle swooped into our zone on a breakaway. The ex-Islander tried to go five-hole, but Jarry made a terrific save.

I admit, at this stage I’m feeling pretty good about our chances. I’m listening to color analyst Bob Errey rave about Jarry and agreeing with every word. Then the aforementioned McCann wins the ensuing faceoff, drives to the net and deflects home Vince Dunn’s long-range wrister.

Ouch.

We’re all tied at 1-apiece. I’ve neglected to mention that the Kraken dominated…and I mean dominated…play in the third period, racking up a staggering 18-4 edge in shots on goal.

That dominance carried into overtime. While the Pens were stumblin’ and bumblin’, to quote ESPN legend Chris Berman, the Kraken attacked. Jarry did his best to hold the fort, but Adam Larsson struck on a wide-open look from between the circles to snatch the extra point for the Kraken.

Perhaps coach Mike Sullivan summed it up best.

“I thought the first two periods, we were fine,” said the Pens’ skipper. “I thought we could’ve had a little bit more net traffic and we could’ve put the puck at the net more than we did playing against a team that defends hard and defends the inside… I thought, in the third period, we beat ourselves.”