I didn’t think it was humanly possible for our Penguins to play worse at the outset of a game than they did against the Kings on Thursday night and still come away with a victory.
I was wrong. In terms of languid ineptitude, our guys outdid themselves during the opening 20 minutes against Columbus last night. To wit, we yielded the first 11 shots on goal. Kris Letang’s bungled outlet attempt at 7:13, which deflected off the skate of Johnny Gaudreau and squarely onto the stick of Boone Jenner in the slot, brought to mind Marc-Andre Fleury’s disastrous playoff bobble of a couple of seasons back that cost Vegas a trip to the Final. It also staked the Blue Jackets to a 1-0 lead.
Eclipsed in sheer awfulness only by Letang’s errant pass off the boards to set up Jack Roslovic’s shorthanded breakaway in the waning minutes of the period. So open was the Blue Jackets’ forward that he had time to consume a four-course meal and dessert, too, before beating Tristan Jarry glove side.
Heck, even when we began our pushback early in the second period we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot. No sooner did Josh Archibald make it 2-1 thanks to a forceful play by Ryan Poehling, then the Jackets’ Kent Johnson sliced through our defense 14 seconds later like the proverbial knife going through hot butter to beat Jarry from the doorstep.
No way we were coming back from that one.
Except we did.
Our rally began in earnest midway through the period when Kasperi Kapanen kicked the puck out to Jan Rutta at the right point. The big defender smartly changed the shooting angle to take advantage of a line of traffic and ripped the puck past Elvis Merzlikins to pull us within a goal.
Doing his best Jake Guentzel imitation, Danton Heinen finished off a juicy rebound from point-blank range to “score, score, score” (in the words of announcer Steve Mears) and knot the game at 3-3 with 5:41 left in the period.
The Pens’ onslaught continued in the third period. Brian Dumoulin found Sidney Crosby all alone between the circles. Sid dropped to a knee to blow the game winner past Merzlikins, who by this time was leakin’ aplenty.
With six minutes to play, the ever-opportunistic Heinen struck again, pouncing on another loose puck to the right of the Columbus cage. Forty-four seconds later the Pens drove home the final dagger. Kapanen used his supreme speed to leave Jackets d-man Nick Blankenburg in the dust before nudging a shot off Merzlikins’ paddle. Brock McGinn swooped in to gobble up a made-to-order pizza (heavy on the sauce) and roof a backhander to run the final score to 6-3.
At that stage Elvis had, most definitely, left the building.
Puckpourri
The Pens overcame their dreadful start to outshoot the Blue Jackets, 39-32. We won 53 percent of the faceoffs. The Jackets outhit us, 31-12.
Jarry (29 saves) played a pivotal role, keeping us afloat long enough for the offense to kick into gear.
No Guentzel? No worries. Heinen, who continues to impress with his smarts, skill level and hands, earned second-star honors with his two huge goals. Quite a bargain for $1 million. Actually, a steal is more like it.
With Jake out, Heinen slotted next to Rickard Rakell and Crosby on the top line. McGinn moved up to fill his spot on the third line. Jason Zucker was a frequent flyer on the fourth line. Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel saw his first game action of the young campaign, logging 9:28 of ice time.
Crosby (1+2) nabbed the top star thanks to a game-high three points. Kapanen had two assists and tied Letang and Sid with a game-best five shots on goal. With five points on the young season, Kappy looks reborn.
Evgeni Malkin (minus-2) had his four-game point streak snapped.
I must say, I’m more and more impressed with Poehling with each passing game. Love his speed and his north-south style. While we’re at it, I’m really liking Rutta. And Jeff Petry.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph seems to be coming along as well.
We’re presently in first place in the Metro with a record of 4-0-1 and nine points, one-point ahead of the resurgent Flyers. We’re second to Boston in scoring (26 goals) and tied for third in fewest goals allowed (11).
On Tap
The Pens travel to Edmonton to square off with the Oilers on Monday night, followed by a contest with Calgary the following night. Then on to Vancouver (Friday) and Seattle (Saturday) for a second set of back-backers.
Hope we’re up to the task. GO PENS!
