Penguins Tame Wild in OT

Exciting. Thrilling. Riveting. Exhilarating. And oh-so rewarding.

These are just a few of the adjectives that popped into my head in the wake of the Penguins’ pulse-pounding 4-3 overtime victory over the Wild last night at Excel Energy Center.

There are so many story lines, I hardly know where to begin. A pair of goals from Rickard Rakell, who’s quickly gaining folk-hero status in the ‘Burgh. A gritty if imperfect 28-save effort by Casey DeSmith. Jason Zucker’s storybook homecoming marred by injury. And, of course, Evgeni Malkin’s refuse-to-be-denied game winner.

In between, there was enough meat on the bone in terms of action to fill a week’s worth of doggy bags.

The clubs entered the fray headed in opposite directions. While the Pens had waddled through a pot-hole strewn 1-1-1 stretch (9-7-2 since February 17) the streaking Wild were on a 7-0 run. Yet our boys took the initiative and snatched the lead just 66 seconds, thanks to the recast second line. Zucker smartly lugged the puck down the right wall in the Wild zone, in the process taking a defender with him to open up some space, before reversing it to John Marino at the point. Marino snapped the puck toward the net and Rakell, timing the shot perfectly, tipped it between Cam Talbot’s pads.

With referees Reid Anderson and Graham Skilliter calling an extremely tight game, at least through the early going, the Pens uncharacteristically went to the sin bin three times in the opening frame and it proved costly. Following a wild (no pun intended) scramble around our net, Matt Dumba poked the puck over the goal line a millisecond before Kris Letang could fish it out.

Having sentenced the Pens to three-straight infractions, the refs reversed course and whistled the Wild for three penalties. Our guys took full advantage. Just 1:54 into the second period, Jake Guentzel jabbed a rebound of a Letang laser past Talbot to make it 2-1.

The Pens padded their lead to 3-1 mid period. Sidney Crosby scooped up a loose puck along the boards, stepped around Dumba with an exquisite move, and quickly transitioned into the Wild zone with Rakell on a 2-on-1. Sid fed the speedy Swede perfectly and Rakell, presenting himself in text-book fashion, chipped the rubber over Talbot’s glove.

Behind the play, however, Zucker lie on the ice in obvious pain after being shoved into the boards from behind by Kevin Fiala. Appearing to favor his right leg, Jason had to be helped off the ice, pouring a bucket of ice water on the proceedings.

The Wild appeared to strike off the rush near the 17-minute mark, but coach Mike Sullivan alertly challenged the play. Video replays showed Marcus Foligno was clearly offside and the goal was waved off.

No matter. On the ensuing sequence, ex-Pen Frederick Gaudreau scored from the slot to pull the Wild to within one. The bad guys proceeded to knot the score at 3-all early in the third period on a bang-bang play around the net and a sizzling shot by resident Minny sniper Kirill Kaprizov.

I confess. At this stage, I began to lose heart. Fortunately, our Penguins never did. They stood toe-to-toe with the Wild and slugged it out through a taut, physical third-period while limiting their foe to a meager five shots on goal.

With the Wild sporting an unblemished 7-0 mark in overtime, the deck appeared to be stacked against us. But the Pens were both brilliant and relentless, dominating play in the extra stanza. As the clock ticked down to a minute remaining, Bryan Rust found Malkin slicing past the net with a pin-point feed. Talbot stopped Geno’s initial attempt at the side of the net, but No. 71 would not be denied. Working with the diligence of a coal miner, the big Russian took a second whack at the puck…then a third.

As the old saying goes, third time’s a charm. Talbot’s skate came off the post and the puck slid past. Touching off a delirious victory crush around Malkin.

Puckpourri

The stats reflected the hard-fought nature of the game. Both teams attempted 65 shots. The Pens held a 37-31 edge in shots on goal, the Wild a slight advantage in scoring chances (29-26) and high-danger chances (11-10). We won 55 percent of the faceoffs.

With a goal and an assist, including his 78th career game-winner, Malkin garnered top-star honors. Rakell earned the second star with two goals. Guentzel unleashed a game-high eight shots on goal, two more than Geno and three more than Mike Matheson.

Mark Friedman dressed in place of Marcus Pettersson and was his typical agitating self, getting under the skin of several of the Wild. Love what this guy brings to the table.

While all of our guys competed hard and sacrificed, a special shout-out to Brian Dumoulin and Chad Ruhwedel. Their gritty shot-blocking enabled us to kill off a penalty to Jeff Carter during a crucial juncture in the second period.

It’s so easy to take all the things he does for granted. And not to sound like Captain Obvious. But, my word, is Crosby a magnificent player. In addition to his obvious offensive skills (17 seasons of point-per-game scoring) he does so many little things well and is so good away from the puck. For my money, Sid’s still the most complete (and valuable) player in the game.

I don’t often criticize the officiating. But on this night it was uneven to say the least. After making every ticky-tacky call through the first half of the game, the refs buried their whistles after Wild coach Dean Evason complained, which led to some serious infractions being overlooked. Fiala’s boarding of Zucker, accidental or not, for one. And Gaudreau’s nasty trip of Rakell behind the net for another. Not to mention Dumoulin being sent head-first into the end boards.

No word yet on the nature or severity of Zucker’s injury.

Beware the Wild. They’re a near perfect blend of size, skill and speed, with just the right touch of nasty. I wouldn’t want to play them in a seven-game set. The fact that we beat ‘em should provide our guys with a real boost of confidence.

The Pens (41-18-10, 92 points) remain in third place in the Metro, a point behind the Rangers and eight up on Washington. Next up…we travel to Colorado for a Saturday matinee matchup with the high-flying Avalanche.