Singin’ the Blues in St. Louie; Penguins Win Shootout

On Tuesday night, the Predators ground us to dust with a dose of rugged, playoff-style hockey. Well, our Penguins returned the favor last night against a heavy St. Louis squad. For the better part of the evening, the Pens skated circles around the bewildered Blues, piling up a lopsided 45-25 edge in shots on goal.

The result? A highly entertaining, not to mention rewarding, 3-2 shootout victory.

Still, to say we didn’t get off to the best start would be an understatement of the highest magnitude. Nine seconds in Kris Letang flipped the puck over the glass to draw a delay of game penalty. A scant 26 seconds later Jeff Carter was whistled for high sticking. Skating 3-on-5 is no way to start a hockey game, but Tristan Jarry and his PK mates miraculously weathered the storm and the Pens soon got down to business.

With 5:18 to go in the frame, Carter won a faceoff to the right of the Blues’ net. The puck pinballed to Radim Zohorna, who moved it quickly to Marcus Pettersson at the right point. Pettersson slipped a soft pass into Chad Ruhwedel’s wheelhouse and No. 2 did the rest, beating Ville Husso with a bullet to the stick side.

The Pens padded their lead to 2-0 midway through the second period, thanks in part to a pretty play by Kasperi Kapanen. Following a strong backchecking effort by Zohorna and a short reverse by John Marino, Kappy spotted Mike Matheson speeding up the far side of the ice and hit him in stride with a bounce pass off the wall. Matheson smoked Husso with a blistering snap shot to the glove side.

At this stage, our guys were putting on a show. It seemed everyone in black and gold was flying, our passing rarely as crisp and sure. Perhaps a little too crisp and sure, because we repeatedly eschewed shots in favor of one last pass.

Then, like a bolt from the blue (pun intended) the home team struck, courtesy of a brilliant individual effort by David Perron. Swinging wide down the left side of our zone, the ex-Pen lowered his shoulder and cut around Matheson with a surprising burst of speed. Having shed his checker, Perron glided in front of the net and coolly outwaited Jarry before snapping the puck home.

The goal seemed to stagger the Pens…at least momentarily. Before we could recover, the Blues struck again at 1:49 of the third period. Pittsburgh native Brandon Saad pounced on a loose puck following a faceoff and circled behind our net before attempting a wraparound shot. The puck skittered off Jarry’s stick and onto the waiting blade of Ivan Barbashev, who knocked it in from the doorstep.

Following our five-minute hiccup we quickly regaining control, pounding Husso with 15 third-period shots. But the Blues’ netminder was up to the task, as was Jarry at the far end of the ice.

With a dreadful 1-6 record in overtime, the Blues seemed ripe for the picking. However, the Pens faltered again, looking sloppy and disheveled while handing the home team several Grade-A chances. Torey Krug clanged one off a goal post 44 seconds in. Jarry proceeded to make huge saves on Pavel Buchnevich and Brayden Schenn. With 2:11 remaining Krug again walked in all alone (where in the wide world of sports was our coverage?), but Jarry denied him.

Mercifully, the game went to a shootout. In rapid succession, Jarry shut down Jordan Kyrou, Perron, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly…again with a little help from the iron. At the opposite end, Husso made short work of Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Letang.

Finally, on our fourth try, old reliable Bryan Rust steamed in and ripped the puck past Husso for the win.

Puckpourri

The Pens dominated the game, piling up huge advantages in shot attempts (77-44), shots on goal (45-25), scoring chances (53-29) and high-danger chances (18-8). An endorsement of Mike Sullivan’s up-tempo style.

Sully juggled our defense pairings, reuniting Letang with Brian Dumoulin. Matheson dropped to the second tandem beside Marino. The latter responded with a breakout performance that harkened back to his rookie season. Pettersson dressed in place of feisty Mark Friedman, to mixed reviews. Marcus set up our first goal, but failed to box out Barbashev on the game-tying tally.

Jarry made 23 saves to earn top-star honors. Matheson (a goal, four shots and four hits) was awarded in the No. 3 star. Although his line was effective (71.43 Corsi), Evgeni Malkin’s points drought extended to six games. Sid’s point streak was halted at 10 games.

The Pens (37-16-9, 83 points) regained sole possession of second place in the Metro, two ahead of the Rangers and four behind front-running Carolina. Up next…we visit the piping hot (yes, piping hot) Coyotes on Saturday afternoon. The ‘Yotes have gone 6-1 in their past seven, ringing up 37 goals in the process. An upset special if there ever was one.

Bone to Pick

While I understand Sullivan’s desire to go with his big guns, Guentzel, Crosby and Letang have been ice cold this season in shootouts (a combined 3-for-20). Rust is 3-for-3, Carter is 2-for-3 and players like Matheson and Kapanen can shoot the biscuit. Maybe it’s time to mix it up.